The Universal Fool
by Audiodelus
Summary: There are many different heroes throughout history. Some heroes conquer countries. Some heroes slay monstrous beasts. Some heroes protect the weak and the innocent. And some, were forgotten and swept into the sands of time. Nevertheless, Fate loves all of her children.
1. Chapter 1: A Fool's Prologue

The sound of a cloaked figure strolling confidently resounded through the darkness, accompanied only by a second set of invigorated footsteps. It wasn't the first time where she had ended up in a strange place. For the 'Mysterious Queen of Caves', it was simply how it was.

Looking around, all she could see was pure nothingness in every direction for miles, except for a single, golden light shining brightly in the distance.

How long has it been since she started walking? A few minutes? Hours? Days?

She wasn't scared though. On the contrary, it was quite exciting. Not to mention, did not mind the change of pace that was long overdue. The quietness provided a seemingly nice respite from the bustling streets of Chang'an, if only for a brief moment. Not to mention, the women who accompanied her provided an excellent source of information and commentary. Looking back at her, she noted how uniquely dressed she was. Despite her own travels, the excitable women's attire was quite different.

A lovely shade of blue velvet, she noted. Quite the contrast when compared to her own simple bright white robes.

The women in question was rather slim, cheerful and white skinned to a point that she considered unhealthy in her opinion_. _In a place like this, maybe it's expected.

Elizabeth, is what she calls herself. Probably 20th century or so if the name was anything to go by. She seemed rather powerful too, enough to take down divine beasts at least. She keeps mentioning something about portals, seals and orbs. Oh, and most importantly, people who need help. Blessed with miraculous powers, it was her duty to defend the weak and help the injured, no matter the time or place.

"...so if you could somehow help my imprisoned esteemed guest, that was such wonderful news. You said one of your powers is to imbue life force? Such powers! I have never in my life serving as an assistant witnessed such wonders!" chattered Elizabeth idly as she walked happily next to the cloaked women.

"Yes. With that orb you have, I should be able to do something about your problem. It's rather strange though. I have never encountered such obscure magic. It's definitely a divine object, but at the same time it lacks the feeling of a divine object. Actually, everything is rather strange. Even that book you carry gives off many familiar presences, but they're not quite the same." muttered the 'Holy Maiden' Aisha in slight wonder.

"Yes, well, you falling out of a corridor is such a wondrous thing too!" replied Elizabeth with in exuberant voice. "You can't control them you say? How interesting. I can't say that I am surprised however. Fate has such a mysterious way of working after all…" trailed off Elizabeth, her eyes momentarily losing themselves in the golden distance.

"How did you know I was here by the way? I have never seen such a dark place before." A few seconds of silence was the only reply, to Aisha's surprise. "Hello? Um. …Elizabeth?" questioned Aisha, turning her head slightly to look back at the velvet women only to see that her gaze had glazed over momentarily. "A passionate person I see." muttered Aisha, a slight shadow of a smile sneaking onto her face.

Elizabeth momentarily blinked in surprise, and coughed lightly. "Ah, how clumsy of me. My apologies. I merely lost myself in thought. You asked about how I knew you were here? It was a rather interesting encounter. The velvet room that once belonged to one of our past resident's changed, or rather, a journey that had finished, had once again started. It was quite a wonderful surprise. I was subsequently sent to check up on him, and I encountered you. My master was grinning quite gleefully over a tarot reading as I left. Something about The Tower and The Sun, if I recall. Oh, I'm sorry. Am I boring you?" asked Elizabeth with a concerned look on her face, quickly turning her head to glance at Aisha. "I have been told in the past that I get carried away without noticing. I apologize."

Aisha simply smiled calmly in return and raised her hand kindly. "No, no. It's quite fine. I haven't had conversation in quite a while. Not to mention it made the time pass rather quickly. In fact, it seemed we have arrived. So, this is the seal you were talking about?" she asked in interest, pointing up to the large golden seal towering above the two ladies. "It's rather magnificent. And powerful too. I daresay it would be able to hold back even the strongest heretic god. Is the being in the middle the one you wish me to help?"

Elizabeth nodded slowly as she handed the shining orb to tanned traveller. "It's been a long time, but they deserve a break. The world owes them that much." She commented quietly, a sad smile gracing her face. "Please remember that the seal must stay intact."

"Of course. This is easily within in my power." replied Aisha confidently, as she raised her glowing hands holding the orb. "All I have to do is inject their life essence into the orb, merge the orb into the seal, then transport them back out. I'm not sure what will happen, so please stand back Elizabeth. My corridors are spontaneous and I don't have complete control over them, particularly when using it to do something requiring this level of precision."

For a few moments, Aisha stood still, her arms outstretched with the glistening orb resting in her hands as time seemed to come to a stop with the only sound being a roaring silence.

A few seconds later in a spectacular blaze of gold, the darkness surrounding the seal swept away like shadows at daybreak as a bright light erupted from the great seal. In the blinding light, the only thing Elizabeth could see was the stalwart figure of the Holy Maiden, surrounded by gold light. As the light's intensity started its descent, a second figure that had fallen into Aisha's outstretched arms lightly could be made out as the sound of rushing wind filled the air. "Ah. I'm sorry Elizabeth," came the faint and quickly increasing distant voice of Aisha. "It was a pleasure meeting you, but it's time for us to leave. I guess it's…"

"…fate." finished Elizabeth, to no one in particular, a small mile forming on her face. "It's a shame, but it seems a new journey has begun."

The invigorated steps of an invigorated velvet assistant once again resounded into the darkness, albeit now lacking those of a kind godslayer.

* * *

**Authors Note Below**

**A few things I would like to note. (Progress updates on my profile.)**

**-Male MC Won the polls. **

**-The protagonist will not be a Campione. (NG+ though.)**

**-This story takes place 1 year before canon.**

**-This story will focus on the background events that happened before the novels, that were mentioned in the novels. Going to focus more on side characters and get to see different sides of the main characters.**

**So yeah. Opinions? Did I make any errors? (Spelling or otherwise.) Anything you looking forward to? If I know what you will like, i'll put more effort into making it better when I get to it. If you don't feel like a character is in character, say so and say why so I can think it over and change it.****  
**

**Q: How strong is the MC compared to the King of the End?**

**A: Not much is known about the King of the End except that he fought many Campione! and Heretic Gods. If I assume he is stronger than any other god at the moment, then the MC might be be able to hold him off at best. I'm counting on Null attributes, a lot of dodging, using weak spots, swapping persona's quickly. He'll pretty much be a versatile Mage who uses enhancing spells to keep up with Campione's/Heretic Gods. Enough to gather a reputation, but not enough to warrant attention of the gods. From the enemies point of view it will just look like he has many strange magic that has conditions to be used. (When really, he just swaps persona's and trades one weakness/strength for another.) I'll point out that Persona is about strength from bonds of friendship, so the battle against the strongest of the strong probably won't be alone. Oh, he is keeping his links from P3, and will just "feel" his bonds with other characters get stronger. Not gonna go into making 22 characters his links. That's just bullshit and I would rather spend that writing characterization or something. If you feel differently, say in a review.**

**Q. Not really a question, but backstory placement feels weird. **

**A. He will be operating between the Black Copper Cross, History Compilation Committee, Witenagemot and other magic organizations. I intend to make the MC the bridge between Campione's and everyone else. Try to become respected by older Campione's and befriend the newer ones, I guess. I only have plot details in my head at the moment, not the relationships ones. How big of a change you consider that, is up to you I guess.**

**Q. Why not both?**

**A. Because twisting the story to somehow have both would seem odd, or it is to me at any rate. For all you know, FeMC is just MC on a NG+ after failing. Guheheheh.**


	2. Time-Travelling Defender of Los Angeles

If someone were to describe Annie Charlton at a glance, the various words they might have used to describe her would have been ones associated with strict business oriented people, such as rational, calm, calculating and perhaps reserved. Dutifully working under Professor West as a research assistant, she often worked late and rose early in order to be prompt and carry out his research as needed.

Thankfully, Professor West only had spurts of urgent research a few times a month and otherwise worked as a university lecturer during off time. In that case, Annie would often be found walking around the various streets of Los Angeles or visiting her stores of habit and making good-natured conversation with acquaintances throughout the day.

Bidding Professor West goodnight as she exited the laboratory she looked up and stared into the gloomy night sky overlooking Los Angeles. Letting out a discontent sigh as the clouds overhead massed together, she started the slow trek home while checking her bag to make sure she had her umbrella. It would probably rain soon, which meant that the dark narrow streets of Los Angeles would once again surely twitch to life.

Interrupting her thoughts much akin to a pebble dropping into water, strange ripples of energy washed over her in waves, enveloping her senses. Normal people wouldn't even notice the feeling, let alone be able to follow it and mages would have a hard time disconcerting it from their normal magic, however Annie was not a normal person by any stretch. She had spent many years tracking magical sources and not only was this magic radiating outwards, it had that distinctive _feel._

_The feeling of power._

The feeling this magic had could only be radiated by very few certain people.

So few in fact, that she could count the number of people other than herself capable of doing so on one hand. It was the unique feeling of a devil king, a supreme lord, a god-slayer.

_A Campione. _

Quickly sizing up her options, she moved towards the source while noting that it had started to lightly sprinkle. If it was indeed trouble, she would need to return home and quickly prepare. Firstly though, she should assert the level of danger that this posed.

Two Campione in one place never bode well for anyone, or anything nearby, as history would quite happily attest to. Following the pulse, she arrived at the greenery of Silver Lake, devoid of life except for the occasional bird seeking cover and small shadowed movements of various fish. Looking directly up, she could feel the pulsing of powerful magic above her, culminating in an area easily one hundred meters above ground.

Strangely enough, other than water droplets flying through the air, she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

After a few minutes of standing slightly drenched under her umbrella, her patience was rewarded as a large square-shaped corridor as thin as paper materialized into existence quickly, hardly visible against the grey and black storm in the background.

To her surprise, it then proceeded to spit out what faintly resembled the figure of a man, sending him flying straight into the ground like a blue meteor from the heavens, the impact causing a small crater sending a myriad of plants and dirt flying in all directions.

Quickly hurrying over to the body, her eyes widened in brief astonishment before taking on a serious disposition as she realized the implications of the event. It was a body of a boy, or perhaps a young man, dressed smartly in foreign high school clothes. What concerned her the most however, was that he was completely uninjured from the fall, not a scratch to be seen anywhere on his body. Any normal person would have suffered from grave injuries and even the most capable mages would have had trouble auto-casting protective spells while unconscious, but here he lay uninjured.

He also had lovely dark velvet hair, a perfect contrast to her dark red, she noted in slight admiration.

That was beside the point though. She bet her life that he wasn't a Campione, but he definitely had the smell of one around him. She hadn't seen it firsthand, but the portal he fell out of was an apt description of the portals created by the Mysterious Queen of Caves. Of course, it could just be coincidence since information on that particular person was as scarce as water in the desert.

It was a risk, but one where the benefits outweighed the possible costs. Leaning down to get a closer look, he was obviously a magician or mage of some level, perhaps from another organization, and had come in contact with Aisha. The amount of people that would willingly be caught up in her 'troublesome situations' or even meet her in person were rare.

It was best to take care of this herself she decided, quickly calling her butler then deftly bending down to pick up the body. It had nothing to do with the fact that he was handsome and had a mesmerizing shade of hair of course.

Not at all.

He did fall in the city of Los Angeles, and as a protector of the city, it was her duty to watch over him and guard him.

* * *

The first feeling Minato felt when his consciousness returned was the feeling of cold, wet droplets of water cascading down his face and uncomfortable feeling of uneven rocks stabbing into his back made only worse by the piercing headache doing gymnastics in his brain.

Concentrating his thoughts to get sense of the situation, the faint sound of footsteps and cars could be heard in the distance, but was seemingly drowned out by the overbearing sound of heavy rain. Turning his head slowly to look up with great difficulty, the vision of blurred grey dark clouds sprayed across the night sky greeted his half-closed eyes.

What happened again?

The last thing he remembered was his body feeling like it was split apart in two.

Or maybe it was.

Trying to focus his thoughts was like trying to catch a fish with your bare hands. Every time he would concentrate on reaching the end of a thought process, it would slide away.

Even his pitiful attempts of trying to move his body resulted in failure, as his body seemed to be in a near paralyzed state. Or maybe it was just being disorient. Perhaps he ought to treat his body better in the future.

After what seemed to be a few minutes of staring into the heavens, his vision changed from the bleak greyness to red. Blinking slowly, he realized rather than it being blood as he expected, it was actually dark red hair in a colour similar to maroon. He also noted that it belonged to a women looking down at him who, since he was no longer being rained upon, was probably carrying an umbrella.

A few moments later she disappeared out of sight and the faint voice of a women saying something consisting of "car" and "as soon as possible" could be heard in the distance. Soon after the voice ended, he felt the comforting feeling of easily being picked up protectively and carried away.

"It's okay. Go to sleep."

With those soft words, Minato closed his eyes as the feeling of the Justice Arcana lit up within him.

* * *

The steady spinning rotation of a modern fan was the first thing Minato saw as he opened his eyes. Blinking a few times to gain his senses and get a level of sight that was definitive, he then sat up and noticed that unlike yesterday, the stiffness of his body had nearly all but disappeared.

Moving his arm at different angles, he realized that while he could indeed move without hindrance, it would still take time to reach the level of fitness and flexibility that he was used to.

Looking around at his surroundings, the sight of simple yet expensive room greeted him. The carpet and bed sheets were made of quality material such as silk in an effort to provide comfort, but in contrast any extra decorations such as paintings or vases were void.

The only reasoning Minato could think of was that he was in an unused guest bedroom. Perhaps the owner didn't play host to many visitors or family. Closing his eyes, he tried to recall what happened before he arrived here.

He had continually defeated Nyx in multiple timelines where other incarnations of himself had failed as per his contract with Igor, and then proceeded to become the reality-transcending Great Seal through the use of the Universe Arcana.

Voices.

Voices of Elizabeth….and someone called 'Aisha'.

They had done something.

Something he thought impossible.

They freed him.

_But what about the seal?_

Looking down in sudden concern, he realized that he was wearing plain black pants and a normal white collared shirt. Quickly looking around the room in slight panic, he located his old Gekkoukan High School uniform laying neatly on a bedside table, freshly washed along with a letter.

It wouldn't do to panic, he reminded himself. He would just have to stay calm and figure things out, one step at a time.

As he opened the letter, the first thing he noticed was the swift neat writing that greeted him in English. It was lucky, he supposed. All students were now required to learn partial English in school, and with the extra time he had it was only natural that he ended up being fluent in English and partially fluent in French thanks to the time he spent with Bebe. It was a good thing that English had become the international language, it made things so much easier.

In an ideal world, he would have preferred to find himself reading a letter in Japanese, but fate was never one to favour one person over another, himself especially. Taking a moment to re-adjust his mind, he quickly read the contents.

_Hello. Due to strange circumstances, we found you "injured" and brought you here. Please get dressed and come downstairs when you wake up. _

_-Annie Charlton._

Obviously a very precise women, if the length of the letter was anything to go by.

Annie Charlton, a western name.

Most prevalent in England and the United states, if he remembered his trivia correctly.

Re-folding the letter, Minato quickly searched his uniform for one of the few items that could shed some light on the situation. Much to his gratification, a velvet shining key lay in his hands glistening up at him as if welcoming an old friend.

A faint smile briefly flashed across his face, a strange warmth entering his eyes. After a minute of reminiscing, he dismissed the familiar thoughts and got up to change into his uniform, leaving his previous worn outfit at the end of the bed, neatly folded up.

Looking over himself, he felt disappointment that he lacked the comforting feeling of an mp3 player and earphones. It was one luxury that he had not had the chance to enjoy in many years due to his sealing. It would be a refreshing experience to once again feel the music that guided him through the dark times. Closing the room's door behind him, he made a note in his head to go buy one when the world stopped being so confusing.

Walking down the long spotless hallway that gave the innate feel of a house far too quiet for its size, the smell of fresh morning eggs slowly wafted through the air. Following the smell until he arrived at the end of the hallway, he carefully checked that he was presentable then proceeded to he knock on the glass tinted door in front of him and entered as a mature female voice behind it admitted him in.

A somewhat large room that was obviously build for efficiency rather than relaxation in mind greeted him. In the middle of the room, a pair of large comfy looking sofa couches sat opposite each other with a stylish glass table sliding in between that was overlooked by a large expensive looking television hosted on the wall. To his amusement, there was an alcoholic mini-bar to the side, housing an impressive display of drinks. Despite the array of luxurious furniture, it was the dark red-haired women that sat on one of the chairs that took his attention.

At a glance, she had a striking resemblance to Mitsuru in all aspects except the hair.

Capable, calm, serious, beautiful, complete with the atmosphere of an honor's student.

Perhaps she might also had the trouble of expressing emotions as well, Minato thought idly as he closed the door behind him.

"Hello. Please, come and sit down. My butler Dennis is cooking breakfast as we speak. My name is Annie Charlton. It's nice to see you're awake and healthy."

Nodding respectfully, Minato quickly walked over and sat down on the couch opposite her.

"Thank you, my name is Minato Arisato. I am grateful for the help you have given me so far." It was natural habit for Minato to be respectful, even more so when first dealing with people with a serious disposition.

Seemingly impressed by his politeness, she hands together in front of herself. "That sounds like a Japanese name. I suppose you're from Japan then? Can you explain how you came to be in Los Angeles, Minato?"

Seeing Minato's slight frown, she offered an incentive.

"I know you're a magician. Mage. Spell-caster. Take your pick."

So much for starting off good. It was not the best situation, and he had never given thought to other Persona users. It was obvious that they each wanted information from each other, so he just had to initiate a level playing field.

Well, she did provide this much goodwill for him, despite there obviously being secondary reasons behind it. Minato cast the thought aside. It was human nature. At least she didn't want to execute him.

"Do you know a person called Aisha?"

At the mention of the name, Annie closed her eyes in thought. "Yes. That's the name of a very …troublesome individual. You obviously had contact with her. What's your relationship with her?"

Minato stayed silent for a minute, matching stares with the serious women opposite him who matched his stare fearlessly, while quickly contemplating possible scenario's and consequences. She seemed like a good person, serious and resourceful too. Even though they had barely spoken, he had warm feeling coming from her, despite her icy outlook. Yes, he decided, he could trust this person. Mitsuru had never purposely led him wrong, and he had a feeling this person would not either.

The bonds of friendship transcended time and space after all.

"Aisha freed med me from my… magical prison. After that, it felt like I was dropped down a tunnel of sorts. Where did you find me, and what year is it, if I may ask?" Minato said slowly.

Annie tilted her head in puzzlement. "It's late 2012 at the moment. Never mind that for now though, you said you were sealed? Why were you sealed?" As Annie continued to draw conclusions, her eyes grew cold. "Are you dangerous? Do you intend to pose a threat to Los Angeles?"

2012.

It had been 3 years since he was sealed. Three years of time had passed, and he had no idea how any of them were doing, but if there was one thing he was sure of, it was that they were capable of handling anything that came their way.

He could worry about the past later, it wasn't going away anytime soon.

Firstly, he should placate the dangerous red-head in front of him.

"I was sealed to stop a great evil. This… 'Aisha' person freed me, but I have yet to figure out the ramifications of that. And I'm not intending to harm anyone. If anything, I'll protect this town. It's where you are after all." Minato said, finishing his sentence while smiling brightly at her.

At that sudden confession, Annie lost her composure momentarily, forcing her to straighten her glasses in fumbled haste. "Oh, right. Yes. Of course. Right. Well then. Uh, Minato Arisato was your name, right? Feel free to stay here for now, there are plenty of rooms and ask Dennis if you need anything. I need to go, have to go see my Professor now."

Bidding the two farewell with surprising swiftness, Annie got up and exited the house quickly, the door slamming shut loudly as she left. All Minato could do was stare after the red-headed women whose face would soon resemble the same colour of her hair.

"You will have to excuse her. She is not very experienced with sensitive matters such as the art of romance." apologized the aged voice of a smartly dressed butler as he entered the living room carrying a plate of toast and eggs. "I hope you don't mind this type of western breakfast, if you want something different please say so. I have a large repertoire of dishes ranging from European to Asian at my disposal."

Glancing at the formal acting butler as he handed Minato the plate, he could feel that while the butler seemed harmless for the most part, it would be a dire mistake to assume that. "It seems like she has taken a liking to you, Minato Arisato. You may consider my services as well, as you are staying here for the time being. You are probably very confused, so feel free to ask me any questions. I will answer them if I can."

Minato simply nodded silently and gave his thanks while starting to eat his breakfast. It was most likely that the butler reported to the Annie, and that anything he said would be re-iterated later on. Despite that, the butler did seem easy enough to get along with, and the fact that he had pretty much decided at this point to trust Annie, he might as well take advantage of the situation.

"Is magic common around here?" asked Minato, between swallows of toast in hope that he could draw similarities between what he knew and didn't know.

"To the overall populace, it is unknown. The magical community strives to keep supernatural events under control, however Los Angeles is quite well known for having a large magical population that may not be as controlled as many would like. Annie herself belongs to the Sorcerous Sacrilege Investigation. However, Loz Feliz is a bit quiet in that regard. You would have to go further outwards into the city to find anything magical related." answered the old butler dutifully while standing at the end of the table.

"What about the shadows?" This was the crux of the issue.

Had the efforts of S.E.E.S. actually changed anything?

Had the Dark Hour actually disappeared?

To his surprise, the butler's answer was one of apologetic confusion. "Shadows? I'm afraid to say that I do not know what you are talking about. May I have some context?"

He didn't know about shadows? But they knew magic, what else would they use magic for?

Perhaps confirming the basics should come first. Getting in contact with Mitsuru would be his first priority. "Never mind that, do you know of the Organization called Kirijo Group?"

It was nonsensical concept that someone wouldn't know of the Kirijo Group. They were a global company that made a mind-staggering variety of products ranging from household to industrial.

Dennis simply shook his head in response. "I'm afraid I do not know of such an organization."

Frowning in thinly veiled concern, Minato handed back his empty plate. The more questions he asked, the more questions he received. "Do you mind if I go out? I need some fresh air."

"Of course. Please do not get lost, otherwise I fear Annie might start a search. For the little time she has known you, she has grown rather attached. Please treat her kindly. The exit is through the door down the hall."

Minato simply nodded as he left the house, glancing back at the butler watching him before closing the door. "Of course. Thank you for the help."

* * *

Walking down the streets of Los Feliz, Minato could only help but feel unnervingly out of place.

It was affluent.

It was expensive.

It also made Minato with his blue hair and school costume stand out like a grey wolf in a paddock surrounded by millions of white sheep.

Every person he walked by would glance at him with a strange look that could only be described as a combination of puzzlement and concern. It seemed like the wolf would just have to don sheep's clothing as soon as possible, and he resigned to buying one as soon as possible.

It also amused Minato that if he looked northwest, he could actually see the famed Hollywood Hills. He hadn't expected to visit Hollywood anytime soon. Hell, the most luxurious place he remember visiting was Kyoto.

After leaving the Charlton residence and strolling through the streets filled with expensive high-rise houses, he soon arrived at the local and very flamboyant shopping mall. He hadn't set off with a destination in mind when he started walking, but all the same it had eventually brought him face to face with his goal.

A velvet shining door.

Despite the door being in the corner of the mall and emitting a light velvet light, it remained unnoticed by everyone walking past it. Carefully taking the familiar key out of his pocket, he braced himself inwardly and entered his sanctum.

* * *

"Welcome to the Velvet Room. I must say, I did not expect to see you again here. It is quite a pleasant surprise." came the well-known and wicked sounding voice from the middle of the velvet decorated room.

As Minato expected, the familiar long-nosed figure of Igor and the beautiful figure of Elizabeth greeted him from behind the desk, as they always had in the past.

"It was quite exciting to discover that your Velvet Room that had long since stopped rising, started to once again move. It seems your journey is not yet over. There is some things you should know, however." said Igor, waving his hand around to gesture at the surroundings, which had indeed changed slightly.

As he cast his gaze around the room, he smiled and nodded briefly to Elizabeth, who waved happily back.

Multiple doors now layered the sides, two of which he recognized, but the rest of which he did not. To his delight, to the far left of the room lay multiple weapon racks, stacked neatly on top of each other, each a valuable tribute to his past relationships. In each and every weapon rack lay various trusted weapons that had journeyed with him through his journey.

"As you can see, Elizabeth retrieved your past weapons after your impressive fight with Nyx and stored them here, along with your money.

You may have already realized this, but your previous journey has now finished, and you have now started a new journey. Fate has decreed that you start anew in the world you find yourself in, and once again set out on a journey to find the truth. Your bonds with your friends will never truly disappear, and only by continuing to make new ones can you succeed.

If you would please sign this contract, then you may truly start your journey, Wild Card." finished Igor, as he pushed forward a strikingly familiar contract and a blue pen.

As expected, the contract was a mirror image of the one he had signed many years ago.

_I _ accept that I will take responsibility for my actions._

Deftly signing the contract with the name _Minato Arisato_ very finely so to make it as clear as possible, the smile on Igor's face grew larger. "Very well. I welcome you back, esteemed guest, to the Velvet Room and I wish you luck on your journey. Do not worry, as you will be rewarded in the end. If you will excuse me, I have other guests to attend to."

With those parting words, Igor exited through one of the five varied blue doors, but not before mysteriously waving his hand over the contract causing it to disappear in a shimmer of blue butterflies.

The moment he was gone, a pair of warm hands grasped his. Looking up, the beaming face of Elizabeth greeted him.

"Minato! How good it is to see you. It has been such a boring time without you visiting, but nevertheless, I had been looking for a way to free you from that seal! Unfortunately Margaret kept saying that they wouldn't work, and now she is un-impressed that I left the Velvet Room, even though she looks to be enjoying herself monitoring the grey haired one. Did you know that humans have this thing called a drill? It's a mechanical mechanism that is supposed to rotate to destroy obstacles. I thought it might work but apparently it's too dangerous."

Minato simply smiled at Elizabeth's antics before interrupting her. "How is everyone? I don't think I'm in the same universe as everyone else after what Igor said, and it's been quite a few years now…"

"Oh, you shouldn't have such a sad smile on your face! Your friends are doing fine! I'll let them know that you're alive if you want. The seal is fine by the way, that Aisha person simply reconstructed your body outside and so you need not worry! She is such a nice person, hopefully she visits again."

Raising in eyebrow in amusement, he doubted the reconstruction process was as simple as she had made it out to be. It had been such a long time since he had witnessed the bubbly personality that was Elizabeth and it provided a refreshing sight among the hectic confusion of the past few days.

"Oh, Minato! By the way, it's simply marvelous! Igor has put me in charge of your Velvet room for now since you no longer need his services! All your persona are right here in the compendium so you should take the ones you want before you leave. I'm sure they have been missing you, since I keep getting told that they prefer to swim in your soul than be stuck in a book. Or at least, the ones that are used to it. Some of them sure have weird personalities though."

At this Minato couldn't help but let out a small laugh, to which Elizabeth gave a curious look. "Did I say something funny? I was not intending to make a humorous joke. Can you explain it to me?"

Quickly initiating evasive manoeuvres, Minato pointed to the large velvet compendium. "May I take a quick look?"

Letting go of his hands gently, Elizabeth made a prideful show of passing him his compendium, proud as a peacock due to her newly granted position over Minato's journey. "Of course. Here you are. By the way Minato, I have a few requests if you don't mind such as…"

Idly flipping through the pages, Minato considered his options as Annie's words came back to him.

"_I know you're a magician. Mage. Spellcaster."_

That's right. From what he could tell, this world didn't have shadows. Or at least, there was evidence to show that they didn't, not definite proof, but until he did more research it seemed to be the case. There was something out there though. Fate would not send him on a new journey for no reason.

And naturally, there had to be balance in the universe.

Everything had an opposite.

Dark and light. Acidic and Alkaline. Left and right.

Life and Death. If there was anything that his journey against Nyx taught him, it was that humanity's subconscious desired death in order to become stronger. With the external threat of change or perish, all living things change. They adapt. They produce offspring. They gain genetic diversity. They survive.

Humanity was no different.

Whatever posed a threat against humanity here was obviously strong, strong enough to warrant a large force of magical societies.

Looking back down at the velvet compendium, He picked carefully selected multiple personae in order to cover any manner of situations. Messiah for overall flexibility. Thanatos to provide physical force. Lucifer and Saten for magical force. With the basics covered, the rest of Minato soul filled up with various other persona's meant to provide elemental protections and spells.

Putting down the compendium, he realized that his personas had indeed filled a hole in his soul, and that he felt more like _himself_ than he had in years. Although he could not directly communicate with his persona, they could send emotions and feelings towards him. And they felt warm. Each of them represented his bonds.

Aigis. Yukari. Mitsuru. Fuuka. Akihiko. Junpei. Koromaru. Ken. Ryoji.

His friends.

He would see them again.

He promised them that much.

"…and so I heard of this fascinating ritual known as a Japanese Tea Ritual. Minato, I must emphasize on how urgently I require to test out this ceremony. It is said to rejuvenate the mind and transform the soul. As soon as possible, I would like to be escorted to one of these prestigious events." said Elizabeth confidently, looking at Minato expectantly.

"Yes, of course. The Tea Ritual is very prestigious and hard to acquire but I will try my best to organize one." answered Minato calmly, as if he had been listening the whole time. "I'm not in Japan, but I may be there soon. It is time I headed back now though Elizabeth. It was good seeing you."

As he left, Minato picked up a few of the more "unique" weapons he had acquired, namely ones gained by fusing his personae into Nihil weapons embodying them with unique effects. One of the more useful effects was that they could de-materialize into his sea of souls to be held by their original owners. Minato could only chuckle at the thought of doing something as idiotic as carrying swords through the food court, no one could be that lacking in common sense.

As he was about to leave, a gloved hand landed on his shoulder, causing him to turn around to see what his new velvet master wanted. To his surprise, a light kiss was delivered to his cheek coupled with a warm smile.

"Good luck, Minato."

* * *

Looking down into the small velvet wallet, he noticed that unlike before, where the money would be replenished as he took the notes out, it had been replaced with a slim fancy blue credit card. Minato chuckled in amusement. It seems like while Fate liked to watch people suffer, she could also could be strangely convenient at times.

Spending about an hour shopping through the various stores, Minato had swapped his old high school uniform for a proper expensive black suit, complete with a stylish matching jacket with a white shirt underneath. Comparing the two, there was not that much actual difference, except that the suit provided a professional aesthetic look that only a well-crafted suit could provide. While Minato was inherently handsome and had wielded an attractive charm beforehand, now he garnered attention effortlessly.

Naturally, after gathering the essentials, he sought out to replace his lost mp3 player, in which he eventually settled on a lesser known brand mp3 that had emphasis on physical size than software.

To his great satisfaction, he also managed to acquire matching earphones that came with the mp3 which, to his satisfaction came in a vibrant velvet colour. Finally, he decided to move his S.E.E.S. badge and instead of pinning it to his clothes, he looped it on a thin necklace and let it drop under jacket to be worn as a hidden charm.

Glancing at a nearby shops mirror to check that he had achieved the perfect outlook of being carefree, yet seemingly professional at the same time, he headed back to Annie's house, the gazes that were once filled with confusion now harboring distant admiration.

* * *

It was late afternoon by the time Minato successfully backtracked his steps and arrived back at the simple yet large house that was Annie Charlton's place of residence. After a few knocks on the door, and being treated to the approving gaze of Dennis who briefly commented on how sleek he seemed, he ended up being led back to the living room while Dennis retreated so as to start preparations for dinner.

Much to Minato's surprise, the widescreen television that was hosted on the wall lit up suddenly, announcing a video call. Picking up the only remote in the room and pressing what he assumed was the answer button, the blue call screen was replaced with the serious looking figure of a British adult that was perhaps in his late 20's, dressed simply in a white shirt and black pants.

As his firm gaze met Minato's, time slowed to a halt briefly as the feeling of being judged weighed heavily on his shoulders for what seemed like hours, much in the same way that a king would judge his retainers.

Seemingly satisfied with his judgement, the calculating gaze lifted as the man lost all interest in Minato, the same way that one would dismiss a potentially interesting shop that caught their attention as they walked down a street. "Hmph. I have a message for Dennis. The book of the old wolf was found causing trouble on the Gulf of California, or that's what I'm told."

With that abrupt declaration, the television shut off leaving a black void once again, the man gone as quickly as he had come.

"Minato Arisato, I heard voices in here. Did someone call?" asked the old butler as he came back into the room, with a newly donned wearing a chef's apron.

"A British person just called saying the book of the old wolf was found off the coast of Romania."

It was a strange message, if anything. Minato had his fair share of strange calls in the past, but that one ranked quite high, taking its place next to Junpei ringing him at the crack of dawn to see if he wanted to hang out, despite his room being a few steps down the hall.

"Is that so?" asked Dennis while closing his eyes briefly in thought. "Hm, okay. Sorry, but could I ask you to go deliver that message to Annie at the university? She'll want to know that as soon as possible."

"Of course."

It would be a good chance to get a firmer hold of the area, and perhaps get access to more information. Universities usually have quite a large repository of books, not to mention electronic facilities.

Seemingly pulling a note and pen out of thin air, he start to write a note before handing it to Minato while giving his thanks. "Excellent. I'll write down the address and the way to get there in a moment. Just ask anyone around for directions to Annie Charlton or Professor West and they should direct you to where they are usually found. Show them these directions if you get questioned. Sorry to ask you of this so suddenly."

"It's no problem at all. It would be a good chance to explore the city."

"You have my gratitude, Minato. If only more people were like you. Don't be too late coming back or your dinner will get cold and simply re-heating dishes loses a lot of its unique taste, I find."

A few minutes later, Minato left the house, a warm sense of understanding washing over him.

* * *

Samantha University was a large and prestigious university, well known in both the magical and non-magical community for having an impressive range of faculties ranging from humanities to sciences.

As he expected, the buildings were created with stylish pearl-coloured walls and multi-coloured glass windows to match the surrounding expensive suburbs, which when combined with the bright and sunny weather of Los Angeles, presented a nearly picturesque scene that easily put the Gekkoukan High School to shame.

With the sun setting in the distance, the amount of professors, students and visitors were near void except for the few studious ones that stayed behind to prepare for the next day's lessons. Of the ones that were leaving, the one that caught Minato's attention was a young man who had a cheery atmosphere about him.

Shrugging his shoulders, Minato quickly approached him but before he had a chance to say anything, the figure had beat him to the punch.

"Hey there. What you doing here? It's Friday man. It's the time for relaxation and drinks, not cramming it up inside a stuffy study room."

Dressed in a casual grey shirt and stylish jeans, he gave off the aura of an easy-going guy who perhaps didn't like to study. An odd disposition for someone who was hanging around an empty university at late afternoon.

"My names Jack by the way. Jack Milburn. So just what are you doing here? You don't look like you're from around here, can I see your ID card?" he asked suspiciously, his forehead slightly creased as he obviously tried to remember if he had met Minato beforehand.

Minato simply gazed back at him. Although he had expected to be confronted, he didn't expect so soon. He was barely past the front gate.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Minato Arisato. I'm here to see Professor West and Annie Charlton. I have a message to deliver."

Minato watched as Jack's face turned from one of warranted suspicion to one of pity as he looked over the signed note that the butler had given him earlier.

"Ah, forced to play messenger boy for the Professor? And on a Friday afternoon too. Damn, unlucky. You seem like a cool guy and, well, a friend of Annie is a friend of mine. We should go out for a drink sometime. Anyway, just head down that way, past the humanities faculty and look for the white building. It's the tallest one, you can't miss it. I have to go, can't keep the missus waiting. It was nice meeting you, Minato."

Minato watched with vague interest as Jack wondered off out of the car park and down the street as the Magician Arcana sparked to life. He was kind of quirky and perhaps a bit too upbeat, but from the looks of things he was acquainted with Annie and he seemed like a nice enough guy. Minato decided to take up the offer when he had time. It would be a nice break, and there are a few drinks in the past that Tanaka had offered him that he didn't get to try.

Walking through the spotless glass doors into the foreign languages department, the sight that greeted him was one that would have made Junpei scream in fear and Mitsuru nod in appreciation. Multiple copies of posters littered the walls and books of all languages were scattered neatly in various piles around the lobby, each looking as thick and heavy as a brick.

Glancing over some of the books as he walked past, some were recognizable such as French, Chinese and German, but some were ones Minato had never seen before, the closest resemblance he could think of being hieroglyphics or perhaps badly drawn kanji.

Heading down the empty passage nearby, the rebounding sounds of two distant voices guiding him to the end of the hallway until he ended up standing in front of a metal laboratory that looked strikingly out of place next to the vernal wood lecture rooms and libraries. As Minato put his hand on the door, he felt a strange magical pressure on his hand, guiding it away as he tried to open it. It wasn't a strong pressure, but to break through it he would require to actually have to tap into his personae, and he didn't think that would be very polite of him, so he reverted to simply knocking.

After a few seconds of silence, the voice of an aged old man called him in, the rejecting aura around the handle quickly disappearing. The sight of an old African American dressed in a worn research coat greeted him, the small hint of a cast around his left leg barely visible around the laboratory bench he was next to. Standing along with the old man with her arms crossed was a surprised Annie.

"Sorry to intrude, but I have a message to deliver." The interested face of the old man and the shocked face of Annie soon changed to ones that resembled a cross between curiosity and satisfaction as Minato explained the circumstances of his arrival.

"Thank you for that, it must have been a hassle. I don't believe we have met. I'm Joe West, but most young kids these days call me Professor West. Are you a student here?" asked the old man interestedly. "I thought I knew most of the students, especially if they were acquaintances of Annie. Perhaps she has been hiding you in secret...?"

Quickly interjecting into the conversation Annie answered quickly, her panicked state from earlier nowhere to be seen. "This is Minato Arisato. Due to circumstances outside even my control he is currently staying with me. Minato, this is Professor West. He's a researcher and also a fellow mage. I was actually intending to discuss your situation with him, but now that you're here we can discuss the issue now."

Looking at the old man, he had the expression of an old grandfather that was pleasantly surprised and at the same time had a glint of cheekiness in his eyes. "So you finally decided to take an aggressive stance, Annie. Good for you, I was hoping you would get over the issue with Jack."

At that comment, Annie started to lose her stalwart professionalism once "That's not how it is, his case is simply special. I couldn't just leave him to fend for himself. I'm just taking care of him. Minato, don't just stand there, tell the professor he is simply delusional."

Looking at the two slightly bickering despite their serious dispositions, it seemed that they were good friends with a history. Deciding that it would be quite a hassle if Annie ran off like this morning, he decided to appease the redheaded women's wishes. "It is as Annie said. She has helped me greatly when I was in trouble."

Out of the corner of Minato's eye, he could see Annie nodding in satisfaction at her 'victory'.

Looking back at the old man, the twinkling eyes of someone who understood more than what was being said gazed back at Minato. "I see. I simply misunderstood. My sincerest apologies Annie."

At his falsely serious tone, Minato let out a brief chuckle. He had met types like him before, whose few pleasure was to tease the younger generations.

"Exactly. You shouldn't leap to conclusions, Professor West. A professor shouldn't jump to conclusions without evidence." agreed Annie, who was completely oblivious to undertones in the air.

Coughing as he walked around the table to get a closer look at Minato, all traces of his past humour disappeared. It was time for business.

"So you're a mage. From what Dennis informed me of, you may or may not come from this time period, you don't have any ties to any particular organization and despite not finding any information on you at all, you've have managed to gain the attraction of many very, very important people." He said plainly, laying out the cards as he knew them for all to see. "Don't look so surprised Arisato. Dennis's skill at collecting information can't be underestimated. You practically already decided to ally yourself with Annie after she left. That old butler can read people just as easily as you can."

Minato chastised himself for putting himself at a disadvantage. The residents of this universe were substantially more resourceful than he had expected.

"I can indeed can cast spells, though they are unique to myself only. I should also mention that I would be interested in joining your magical organization, and from the sounds of it, you have an offer." said Minato slowly, considering his options.

Going by their aggressive stance and communication, it was a safe bet to assume that they showed some interest in letting him join. With access to more information, the possibility of finding Aisha and a way home increased.

Gesturing to his surroundings, the Professor nodded and started to elaborate. "SSI. Sorcerous Sacrilege Investigation. We're mainly based in the US and have multiple branches in a variety of locations spread over America. We predominately operate under the Campione 'John Pluto Smith' and work on investigating and concerning magical phenomena."

"What's a Campione?"

With that inquiry, the two other residents of the room exchanged concerned glances that only asking a critically obvious question could cause.

After a few seconds of silence, the Professor answered slowly, his gaze never leaving Minato's.

"A Campione is a person who has killed a god and then usurped their powers, gaining the status of a god-slayer. They are a supreme ruler, a lord, a devil. The only beings who can oppose a Campione is another Campione or a god, for they are no longer human. This is common knowledge to all magic users."

Minato berated himself inside for asking. It seemed like trying to bluff his way past just wouldn't work at this point, he simply knew too little. It couldn't be helped. He would just have to use that.

"I suppose that shows my ignorance of the world. Very well, I was sent hereby Aisha. I come from a different universe, or at least that's what I theorize at the moment."

"I was told as much. The future perhaps? The nature of Madam Aisha's powers are unknown to most except that they cross both time and space. I suppose it would be best to not worry about that. Time-travelling can be quite a problematic thing, for both the sender and the receiver. Am I right in concluding that you know very little of this world and that your end goal is to locate Aisha and return?" mused the old man, as if he had found an extremely interesting book and direly wanted to read it.

Minato closed his eyes and bowed. "That would be best. I was hoping that you could assist me in that matter by letting me join the organisation. Sorry for the inconvenience."

At his request, the old man simply raised an eyebrow. "What do you think Annie? Considering you're the one dealing with him, perhaps you should make use of some privileges and have Arisato work under you?"

The idea of Annie taking advantage of her authority reminded him once again of her likeness to Mitsuru. He wouldn't be surprised if he found out that she also built the University. "Is Annie high up in the chain of authority?"

"Hm, you could say that." muttered the Professor jokingly under his breath.

Purposefully ignoring the Professors comment, Annie came to a decision without hesitation. "Yes, that's probably the best decision right now. However, I'll have to test him though to see his magical competence and skills."

Shaking hands with the Professor and thanking him, the Professor whispered so Annie couldn't hear. "I think this will be the start of a very good friendship."

Even after thinking about it for days, Minato was not completely sure whether he meant Annie or himself. From the brief interaction with the Professor, he would safely bet both.

"Come along Minato, Dennis would have nearly finished preparing dinner!" came Annie's voice from down the hall. As Minato left, the wink of the old man was the last thing we saw as he left the laboratory.

* * *

"Is it normal for mages my age to me to be with organizations?"

Dennis carefully replaced the blue and white vase he had been polishing and turned around to Minato who was sitting on the couch relaxing. "It is commonplace for mages to start early in multiple organisations around the world. Some of the most famous and skilled mages are many years younger than you and Hime-miko in Japan are known to start there training when they are children."

Filtering away the term Hime-miko as another type of magician, he decided that now was a chance to ask a question that had been bugging Minato in the back of his mind for majority of the afternoon.

"Dennis, what's Annie's relationship with Jack?"

"Ah, that's an interesting one. Don't tell her I said this, but she had a crush on jack, and lately found out that he had a girlfriend. She was down for days, but ever since you showed up she has been quite a bit happier. She even insisted on taking care of you when you were unconscious. It's quite a shame that she is bad at communicating her emotions." answered Dennis nonchalantly, the familiar knowing look in his eyes that was appearing much too often in his life than Minato was comfortable with.

He raised an eyebrow at his apparent lack of secrecy and possible implication, but he supposed that Dennis been serving as a butler to Annie long enough that perhaps she had taken on the image of a granddaughter in his eyes.

One that was pitifully single.

Pushing that troublesome issue to the back of his mind, he decided that since he had nothing better to do, he would head further into the city to see if he could find any of the magical users that Dennis had mentioned were stationed further into the city.

* * *

Unlike the night before, tonight the night sky was as clear as water, its body filled to the brim with millions of sparkling faint stars as it towered above the bright and lively city of Los Angeles. Even if the Dark Hour appeared here, Minato had no doubt that Los Angeles would continue to look as splendorous as it did normally.

Deciding that the back alleyways were probably the best bet to find magicians considering their existence was hidden from the public, he headed quickly into the deserted thin winding passages. Without thinking, Minato subconsciously enhanced himself with a variety of enhancing spells through habit.

In fact, it was so natural to a point where the upkeep of magical power that he generated automatically redirected itself to cover the enhancing cost keeping Minato constantly empowered. Unfortunately, this also meant that when he ran out of magical power, he stayed like that unless he un-enhanced himself.

Quickly maneuvering through the surprisingly clean yet dark alleyways with ease, he was surprised to find that despite his body's stiffness earlier, it was now nearly completely up to par with his old body. Aisha really had done a good job of re-creating his body. Or copying. Minato still wasn't completely sure of the process, but it worked so he was thankful either way.

After dodging through the back alley ways for the quarter of an hour, his efforts to find some sort of magical based trouble were granted. He had no doubt that Fuuka could have easily sensed out magic using her inherent ability if she were here and saved him an impressive amount of time, but for the immense size that Los Angeles was, he couldn't complain at the results.

Walking slowly so as to mask his presence, he entered carefully across into a vaguely deserted area behind a quiet large warehouse as the tingling feeling of magic filled the air.

Edging slowly closer to the side of the building, he carefully peaked his head carefully around the side of the building in an attempt to get a clear look. In the distance, the dimly lit sight of three or four men in their early twenties standing around a bloodied altar that resembled a fly entered his vision. At a closer look, they seemed to have slight resemblance to the evil cultists much like the ones that once preached the coming of Nyx.

Despite the odd altar setup, the most alarming thing about the whole scenario was the two children lying unconscious on top of the air, their hands and feet bound.

Gripping his hands quietly in silent anger, Minato hastily started to scale the side of the warehouse with swift agile movements. The pair of kids looked no older than Ken and if left alone to their fate, would suffer far more than Ken did.

He couldn't and wouldn't let that happen.

Not ever.

While Minato was confident he could take them out easily, he didn't want to risk putting the two children at danger, so ending it as soon as it began or even before it began was ideal. Calling up the prideful figure of Odin from the depths of his soul, the bristling of blue lightning started to spark around his wrists silently.

Bracing himself as he jumped down, the thunder previously radiating around his arms arced towards the unsuspecting cultists, easily flowing through the air with unparalleled accuracy. In a brief flash of light, the cultist's bodies fell limp even before they hit the ground, the sounds of their bodies impacting the floor being overridden by the loud sound of thunder and lying rocks.

Grunting in reaction, he covered his face with his arm to block the flying fragments of rock and dirt, while being forcibly reminded of just how loud his electrical spells could be.

Unsurprisingly, shouts from inside the warehouse suddenly pierced the night far sooner than he would have liked.

"What was that?" "Something's happening outside!"

Bracing himself for another fight, Minato jumped back while grabbing the two children under his arms, readjusting his arms to make sure he didn't drop them. While he could keep fighting, his priority was to rescue the children and as long as they got out of this safely, he considered his job successful.

As multiple cultists started to give chase to him down the thin alleyways, a booming voice resonated throughout the dark night causing them to hold their tracks.

"Such wonderful displays of righteousness and valor. Savor of the children, I commend you! But do not worry, for it is I, John Pluto Smith!"

_The ruler of Los Angeles, the leader of the Sorcerous Sacrilege Investigation, One of the six Campione in the modern world. John Pluto Smith._

A masked figure, dressed in black dropped down from the night, silently landing in front of the cultists, blocking them from Minato. Donned in a sleek armored mask resembling the eyes of an insect and dressed in pitch black suit, the figure in front of Minato could only be described as a 'a superhero who arrives just in time.'

The terrified screams of the cultists entered the night sky as they fled, chucking their weapons at the armored knight. Minato watched in hidden astonishment as the masked figure chased them down at speeds rivaling that of his own and disabled them effortlessly, all the while easily avoiding the barrage of weapons that came in his way.

"I would like to thank your brave heart for saving those children. You truly are fit to protect this glorious city along with me. But fear not, for I will send these children safely home and make sure that those who threaten Los Angeles peace are dealt with."

Handing over the children, Minato could feel a familiar bond of the Justice Arcana growing stronger, despite never having met John Pluto Smith. As the masked hero disappeared along with the two children, Minato blinked in surprise as he realized just where he had felt that bond before.

Suddenly all the strange meaningful discussions he had witnessed over the last few days started to make sense. It seems that Fate had once again decided to spice things up, and if he played his cards right then it could only get easier, and if there was one thing that he knew well, it was cards.

* * *

"How did you know it was me? It's just not possible."

The next day soon after breakfast, Minato had taken the plunge and confronted Annie as they ate breakfast. If he could manage to convince her to let him assist her in her path of righteousness then she would eventually trust him more and open up to him in time, not to mention he couldn't help but feel silent anger that there were people in the city that would dare to assault _children_ _who couldn't even defend themselves._

He now found himself sitting directly across from Minato was the distressed figure of Annie Charlton accompanied only by Dennis in his normal position, standing behind her with an unreadable face.

"There should have been no way that you could have known it was me. Near impossible, even. John Pluto Smith and I are even opposite genders." It was an irrefutable point that would have forced most people to re-consider, however Minato have absolute faith in his bonds of friendship and they had never led him wrong in the past.

Putting his hands up in front of him in a placating gesture in an effort to calm her down, he decided to demolish what he hoped was her main fear. "It's just one of my inherited magic's. I assure you, no one could possibly use the same method I did to reveal such secrets, and even if they could, it would be by pure chance."

It didn't help to be careful, and it had served Minato well in the past.

"Don't worry, I won't tell a soul. I actually find it quite admirable."

At his confession, Annie straightened her glasses in relief while blushing. "Is, is that so? I'm glad you think that way."

Sitting straight back up after taking a moment to center herself, she continued in a serious voice that had the slight undertone of relief. "The only people that know my identity as John Smith is Dennis and Professor West. Every else is under the impression that both myself and Dennis work directly under John Pluto Smith."

She paused for a moment, looking at Dennis as if to silently ask a question before continuing to speak slowly.

"…Since you know my secret it would be easier if you worked under John Smith as well. It would be best if you got your knowledge up to par as soon as possible," she said calmly, pulling out a silver key from her pocket and holding it out to Minato.

"This is the key to the study upstairs. There are books in there regarding the current Campione along with heretic gods, so I suggest you read them as soon as possible. You'll also have access to Professor West's library at the university. You should visit the university later this week as it acts as an information headquarters for the most part, so it would be good for you to be familiar with it."

It had been quite some time since Minato had felt that he was somewhat prepared for what the future involved, but if there was anything that was going to reassure him, it would be the feeling of finally being able to know what he was up against.

Snapping Minato out of his thoughts, Annie beckoned him to stand up.

"Follow me, it's time I evaluated how powerful a magician you really are. I saw a glimpse of your skills yesterday and I have to say, it resembles more of a divinity type of magic rather than magical powers."

Pushing herself out of the couch before he could follow, Annie stood up and after brief moment of hesitation that was soon overridden by courage, she held out of hand to Minato.

Grasping her hand to pull himself up, he was reminded of just how soft her hand was, a warm feeling ignited in his sea of souls as he did. He also had no doubt that she could probably throw him out the window with little to no effort.

It was at that moment that Minato decided that Campione were scary existences.

* * *

Many of the buildings in the lavish district of Los Feliz were made with the concept of luxurious living in mind and as a result many of the large houses had multiple floors, and Annie Charlton's was no different. In fact, while it had expansive floors above to act as study and library room it also had an underground area that was added in long after it was built.

Wordlessly leading Minato below the house and down some stairs, soon enough they arrived at a large steel room that might have been once used for training, if the bullet indents in the walls were any clear indication. Pressing a few buttons at a panel to the side, Minato watched in amusement as pieces of the wall start to move, turning the small makeshift shooting range into a large training hall.

Beckoning him to follow her into the center of the room, she excused herself in a flash of dark smoke as the figure of Annie morphed into a fully armed costumed man, clad in fashionable array of black and purple.

John Pluto Smith.

Los Angeles protector.

Upon seeing Minato's confused expression, he elaborated in amusement. "One of my authorities lets me transform. The alias John Pluto Smith is simply a cover, but the idea of being a different gender provides the strongest cover I could come up with, don't you agree? Those fear that which they can't see and the black shape shifting Hero of John Smith is just that."

Looking at John Smith, Minato could only feel that Annie's posture and inherent nature had changed. She no longer had the reserved and quiet outlook of a shy women, and had been replaced of one benefiting a super hero. Prideful, charming and confident.

"Come Minato, as a Campione I would like to test your skills. Fear not, I will not cause undue harm and all Campione have an extremely high resistance to magic so do not hold back."

With that announcement, the dark figure of John Smith darted forward, aiming a kick at his side. It was obvious that John Smith was starting off slow, as he had seen the masked hero move substantially faster the night before. Easily raising his arm to block the attack, Minato aimed a sliding kick in an effort to unbalance Smith's other leg, but was not surprised when Smith nimbly avoided the kick and bounced back, quickly putting distance between them.

Not wanting to let his opponent recover, Minato surged forward and pushed Smith back, aiming quick fast jabs in an effort to uncover an opening in Smith's defense, but to no prevail.

"You're good Minato, excellent in fact. You must have had a good teacher."

It was only natural, as Minato had spent many afternoons training with Akihiko in the art of boxing until he eventually surpassed him. It was his fast probing style of punching that he had incorporated into his overall style and it had served him well in the past, no matter what weapon he used or enemy he came up against.

"Unfortunately, it's a requirement that all super heroes be master in close combat!"

Despite his attempts to push Smith back and find an opening, he quickly found himself outmatched in pure skill. Punches aimed at the openings in his defense would be redirected very finely to the side so they just missed and then were returned in full force causing Minato to grunt in brief bursts of frustration.

Even kicks launched at blind spots were blocked as easily as any other kick, as if he had an unnatural battle instinct that let him see the flow of battle.

Quickly retreating a few steps in preparation, the faint sound of wind surging around Minato's arms could be heard, followed by a barely visible concentrated gust of wind surged forward in an attempt to eviscerate the masked figure.

He had been told that magic is completely ineffective against Campione's but seeing his Garudyne simply force Smith back a bit leaving him untouched where it would have utterly decimated a shadow made Minato click his teeth in frustration.

It could have gone worse as it had in the past, such as having his spells repelled but Minato dismissed pointless thoughts as he rushed to engage in close combat one again, this time using Garudyne to forcibly create openings in Smith's defense. Streams of visible wind rushed around his body, each punch and kick he delivered being supplemented by additional invisible forces that displaced Smith's would-be defense.

Against the new tactic, Smith's movements were forced to become more irregular as he made an effort to block and dodge the fast incoming flurry of hits that were no longer easily countered, and at times not even seen.

"Simply genius, there are very few mages that are well versed in both combat and magic, let alone be able to incorporate both into a battle style that let them control the flow of battle! Not to mention the lack of incantations! But can you do any better, Minato? What if the enemy had an affinity for wind? What sets you apart from others?"

In a flurry of innovative spinning punches and kicks, Minato was forced back momentarily step as Smith created distance between the two, a hidden smile gracing his face behind the metal mask. "Show me why fate chose you!"

Minato thought carefully about how he could land a hit on Smith that was suitable enough to reach his expectations. Magic itself was shown to be partially effective, but at best a distraction.

But a distraction was enough.

The static feeling of electricity filled the air as Minato slowly moved forward, the electrifying feeling of Thor and Take-Mikazushi channeling their powers into his arms as he prepared to strike. Without so much as a warning, a large burst of lightning flew forward from Minato's arms striking the immediate vicinity around Smith, causing dust and stones to explode in a shower around him, momentarily block his view.

In that split second, using the brief opening of what he hoped was disorientation, Minato called upon one of his strongest physical moves, God's Hand, sending Smith flying across the room from the impact of the large golden fist until he crashed against the wall.

For a few seconds the figure of John Smith lay unmoving, until the sound of exuberant laughter filled the room as he got up, parts of clothes covered with lightning-singed holes but otherwise in perfect shape.

"Simply wonderful. I was right to put my trust in you. If I didn't know any better, I would say that you're a Campione yourself. However, I'm afraid we will have to stop this here for now, as to get serious I would have to start using authorities and they may cause the inhabitants of Los Angeles trouble."

Minato sighed in relief. While he could easily cast spells without tiring, using fusion spells caused quite a drain on his reserves and if he was to fight Smith any longer, he would soon find himself empty. Not to mention he couldn't use some of his stronger spells in fear of having the house collapse on top of them.

A few seconds later the masked figure of John Pluto Smith returned to that of Annie Charlton, fully clothed leaving with no traces that she had been fighting at all. "You did well. Follow me upstairs and discuss the upcoming assignment I have for you."

* * *

"Homo Homini Lupus. The tome of the wolf." said Annie, giving her thanks to Dennis as he offered Minato a soft drink and put down a fruit platter on the living room table in between them, to which Annie quickly started to pick at deftly.

Thanks to his innate skill of Invigoration Minato was nearly back at peak condition, but part of him still liked to relax after a tough battle and soft drinks filled that want quite easily.

"It used to belong to Hungary's Campione Sasha Dejanstahl Voban but apparently he misplaced it and now it has turned up at the Gulf of California causing trouble. Whether or not he actually misplaced it or someone simply stole it hardly matters. There are few who can refuse a Campione whimsical decisions, so he probably knows he can go retrieve it if he needs. But it's still causing problems."

Letting out a practiced sigh in annoyance, she picked up an orange and started to nibble on it. "I would go, but I have to defend Los Angeles and deal with the cultists, so think of this as a test. I'm assigning Jack Milburn to go with you. He was a former police officer and works for the SSI. I'm sure you'll find his tracking skills useful in locating the tome."

"No problem. Hopefully it will be interesting." confirmed Minato as he glanced over the report in his hands on the Hungarian Campione.

"Oh, and Minato?"

Looking up from the notes briefly, the shy smiling face of Annie Charlton looked back at him as he felt familiar warmth come over him.

"Please be safe."

* * *

**~Authors Note~**

**There might be spelling mistakes/grammar mistakes.****(If there isn't then I'll eat my hat)**

** Why? Because I don't have a beta.**

**...So, I'm looking for a beta/beta's to provide different opinions. Just PM me and we'll work something out.**

**I thought to ask here if anyone would want to before I go looking for one next week. You don't need to be deeply knowledgeable with the two universe's (at least be up to date), just grammar check, whether or not it flows and answer my pesters. (I think I have the characters down, since they are not really touched upon in the novels.)**

**If there's any errors, please say so in the review. I'm a bit concerned if Minato's attitude of getting hold of his situation is legit sounding, so I would really like feedback on whether I need to go back and ninja change that while no one is looking.**

**There's a few things unanswered in this chapter, but it's chapter two so bite me.**

**The name of each chapter gives hints to what happens, and that's found on my profile. **

**On an unrelated note, I compared what I wrote, to say, GSBW (because it came out while I was editing) and I realized how much more shit I am. Or maybe I just re-read this chapter so much that I can't easily judge it anymore. Who knows. I however, think that my writing style is at-least weird in someway. **

**Anyway, next chapter will be better, now that the awkward introduction into the universe is over. An actual fight rather than a squabble, more discussions and beta'd properly. (I hope.)**

**-I have been told this chapter feels rushed, and considering the amount of plot I tried to stuff into it i'm not suprised. The question now is: should I go back and expand on the scenes more or just leave it. Any feedback is good feedback!**

**-Kinunatz: Minato is an abnormality in this universe and will stay that way. He does of course, have extremely high resistance to magic which is also dependent on which persona he has 'equipped'. (He did get hundreds of spells in the game.) How many persona he has in his soul has nothing to do with it. If I was to draw similarities, then I would classify him as an extremely strong divine ancestor. He is in no way a sidekick, and that is simply a means in this chapter to get him 'integrated'. He starts building his 'links' and becoming independent next chapter.**

**-Hell: P4G is happening at the same time to which I hinted at, so Marie has her hands full. As for Ryoji, who knows~**

**-Guest: I'll think about it, but I feel that if I did that, I would need to assign a Link to every single one. Maybe ill just go with a feeling that strongly hints at a particular tarot.**

**-black nova: He will summon a persona when he starts fighting enemies worth it. And nah, no evoker as SEES took it back but left his personal belongings. By this point he's skilled enough that he doesn't need it anyway. Next chapter clears this type of thing up.**


	3. The Fool Who Cried Wolf

Books.

Tomes.

Reports.

Papers of every kind littered the room, accompanied only by the blue haired enigma as he slowly but surely worked through every piece of information in preparation for the coming days.

_The loud sound of a large pile of books slammed down on the table in front of him, just he had requested the day before. _

"_Here are all the books containing information about the Homo Homini Lupus. Be sure to read them before you leave. Once you're done, just leave them in the study above and I'll take care of them later. It will take a while before I can get my hands on texts with information on other Campione and Divine Beasts but by the time you get back they should be ready._

And so, it was during a peaceful sunny afternoon that Minato found himself cooped up in the second floor study with only a fortress of books for company.

While Annie had suggested that he should take a break outside sometime, he forwent that suggestion and dutifully stayed inside. It wasn't that he didn't like the sunlight, but he had played enough games and studied in his room in the past that it just didn't occur to him, as any thoughts of taking a break vanishing once he flipped a page.

While he quite liked the feeling of fresh paper and actually having a physical object to read from, touch and handle, he was slightly disappointed to find out that most magical organisations kept their documents in a corporeal form rather than an electronic form. The closest form to electronic storage that he was actually knew was used by the associations was a simple cataloging system.

When he did take the chance to ask Annie about why they didn't store information online, she looked at him like the knowledge was common sense and summarized it down to _"magical tomes physically requiring contact with the reader's magic in order to form a link, to which the content can then be recognized and remembered. "_

A necessary safety requirement he guessed, otherwise magicians all over the world would fling around lethal spells without consequences, though he had the suspicion that it was more of the fact that the writers just wanted to be generally spiteful and make people to put in effort to get results.

Annie had also mentioned something in passing about angering the sleeping tiger if 'she' found out that her information was on the internet, but he paid it no mind.

IN the end, after looking over the multiple reports on the wolf-based book, he could only consider the text a troublesome text of the highest calibre. Ever since it had surfaced in California, there had been strange nonsensical reports of wolf-like beings being sighted, most often at night.

Surprisingly, it had not been making as much of a big issue as he had expected. The amount of assault reports was limited to only missing animals in the streets, the occasional robbery and the occasional admittance of a hospital patient with injuries resembling that of a claw slashes.

Slightly out of the normal, he mused, but not completely suspicious enough to warrant attention, unless you were specifically looking for it.

In the end, Minato had rounded down his assignment to two things.

Locating the troublesome book as soon as possible and finding the 'wolf' that had been sighted.

Though there was no concrete evidence to show they were related, the coincidental sightings of the wolf had been reported at the exact same time as the book had surfaced, so common sense dictated that there was a link.

There was also the problem that the creature was probably some sort of supernatural creation, or 'divine beast' as both Annie and the Professor had called it. It was only a few days ago that Annie had rigorously and repeatedly pressed upon him the importance of knowing a divine object or person's history, as their weaknesses and strengths could often be taken advantage of by repeating history.

Or so she said.

Looking around at the large stacks of dusted tomes and piles of reports, he could only sigh in tiredness.

space

_Homo Homini Lupus. _

"_Man is a wolf to man."_

_An ancient tome, over a century old, belonging to the Hungarian Campione and directly linked to his 'Authorities'. _

_Published in Romani in the earlier half of the nineteenth century, it had been known to turn the reader into inhuman fur-covered servants, quite similar the recent reports in California. Though it covers all matter of animals ranging from wolves to bears, it's most common chosen outlet is one of wolves, and at times, werewolves. _

Whether or not the book had the spell as a safety guard or curse was unknown, but Minato had no doubt in his mind that he would have to fight a divine beast, most likely of wolf origin no matter how the affair turned out.

Closing the book nearest to him, he started to jolt down another point.

_Held by a witch of the forest, revered by wolves, bears and birds, it reveals the secrets to lupis transformation. _

It had taken many long days of hiding from sunlight, but he had managed to sift through tens of books before he was scheduled to leave, much to his satisfaction.

The room remained as book-stuffed as earlier, joined only by the neat notepad lying in front of him, covered with multiple notes. It was not the flashiest way to conduct research, but nevertheless he persevered to continually jolt down points with an arrow pointing outwards every few lines to a word or idea, nearly identical in layout to his past midterm test study books he once had.

Though he had tried many different techniques to study with back in the day such as mind maps, he found that simply making dot points was the most efficient way for him, much to the past disgruntlement of the less academically blessed friends.

Sighing in satisfaction as he glanced over his work, he could only ponder the nature of the Hungarian Campione. Multiple people had stressed upon him the inhuman personalities of the god-slayers and he could only agree with the opinion at this point. The idea of leaving such a troublesome tome somewhere and not following up on it shed Voban in a negative light in his mind and the small tidbits of information he had gleamed about his battle-fanatic personality only furthered that idea.

He did like Annie though, despite her... 'Unique' personality shift. He couldn't imagine how the other Campione would act, and was quite content not to find out anytime soon. Though he liked the thrill of matching his skill with others, he had enough of fighting for multiple lifetimes and the thought of fighting another Campione like Annie, who unlike her, wouldn't hold back didn't appeal to him.

Lighting up the room briefly, his phone vibrated energetically displaying a call from his temporarily partner.

Quickly picking up the phone, the jovial voice of Jack answered him in a tone that sounded much too cheery for his liking.

"Minato, it's me Jack. How are ya? Annie just told me that you haven't left the house in days. You a workaholic or something? You must be seriously going at it to get Annie to mention it, and you know how serious she is. Anyway, enough about that, you remember my offer last week? You and me. Drinks. Tonight. My girlfriend is having a night with her friends so I'm being forced to evacuate anyway, and we haven't spoken much. What do you say?"

It was an attractive idea, he had to admit.

He had just gathered as much information as he could at this time and it would be a good idea to get an idea of Jack's personality and abilities for the upcoming assignment.

Directing his mind back to one that resembled a normal person's thought process, he also admitted silently in his mind that he wouldn't mind becoming friends with Jack and learning more about him. He seemed like an interesting person. On the surface, anyway.

Next to the stalwart Butler, the serious Annie and the old Professor, he could use some easy-going company.

"Sure. Do you have a place in mind?"

Minato could almost hear his pride resonating in his voice when Jack answered near instantly.

Of course I do! There is this absolutely great cafe place in the city, if not the best and it's barely a short walk from the University. It's hidden away though, so only those 'In the know' are aware of it, but they have most killer menu and variety of drinks. You won't be disappointed, I guarantee."

As vague as he was being, Minato was sure that the 'in the know' comment referred to as the magic, the restaurant probably being a common place for SSI workers to gather at after work perhaps, or something similar.

Quickly finishing up the call after confirming multiple times that, yes, he would indeed come out, he could only decide that the blame probably lied upon Annie's gossiping of him.

* * *

The sweet aroma of espresso, tea and coffee wafted through the air as the two colleagues made their way past the various refurnished chairs and tables and up a flight up stairs to the second floor.

Despite the time being almost seven at night, the 'well-known' coffee shop continued to bring in customers at a rate that dwarfed even the charming popularity of Chagall Café, most likely due to their recent addition of diverging into various exotic alcohols.

Not to mention it was next to Main Street.

Hidden away indeed.

Espresso Cielo, as Jack had told him multiple times on the way there, was the premier coffee shop in all California, bar none. Situated on the main street of Monica, it was open every day of the week, all the time and had garnered quite the reputation in both the magical and normal communities.

Being only a twenty minute drive from Los Angeles, it proved to be a popular hot-spot for both after work drinks and morning espresso while providing a warm atmosphere.

Leading Minato up a flight of stairs near the back of the room, the tell-tale feeling of ambient magic washed over him.

"Don't mind the magic, it's harmless. Just a ward to keep away any of the normal from entering the magical side. Can't be too careful."

A few steps and fashionable wall paintings later, they had arrived at a similar but slightly more luxurious bar room, complete with a balcony and a wall mounted widescreen television. Taking a moment to look closer at the television, he noticed it was relaying news more situated to the magical side of things than the normal shows.

"Are all the people here mages?" Minato asked as he glanced at the multiple people sitting around the room talking quietly, a few stares being directed at the two as they made their way to the back of the room to their spot, the occasional mage waving at Jack as he passed.

"Anyone who comes here will be, though it's more empty than usual since a new project arose this week and the SSI sent out quite a few teams to investigate. I tell you though, it's been a rough week. There are some leads hinting that one of the more problematic cults is on the rise again, but you'll find out about that soon enough and if what I have heard is true then it will be sooner than later."

Out of the corner of his eye, the light amused smirk of Jack could be seen as he passed over a leather-bound pamphlet that looked more like in belonged in a restaurant than a bar.

"Here's the menu, take a pick of whatever you feel like, first one's on me. After that, your own your own."

Opening the menu, he could only shake his head in disbelief at the various amount of drinks available, both in alcoholic and coffee styles.

At the top of the list were common drinks such as Iced Coffee, Espresso and Mocha but as he cast his gaze down he found some of the more unique drinks such as Indian Filter Coffee, Chocolate Dalmatian and Greek Frappe.

Similarly, on the opposite page was a list of various alcoholic beverages ranging from whisky to what appeared to be a smooth brown Greek spirit called 'Metaxa'. In the end after quickly skimming through the list, he had ended up ordering a drink that he had once seen Mutatsu drinking when they first met.

Upon seeing his choice, Jack could only raise an eyebrow. "Going from your look I would have expected something like beer. Or sake. Well, it is kind of like sake, but still. Be careful though, the bartender likes to go with an all-out attack when dealing with spicy beverages. I myself have a thing for Brandy Sour, so I can't talk about strange tastes anyway."

As the waiter gave a short bow and left to deliver the orders, Jack turned slightly to look at him with a devious smile on his face. "So I heard that you're living with Annie at the moment. How's that going?"

How much was he prepared to say? He couldn't mention Annie's identity as John Smith, but everything else should be fair game, right?

"She is very… serious on the outside. Quite business oriented though. That said, I'm positive she is kind-hearted inside."

He would be damned if he didn't know how to read peoples character by now, especially those the opposite gender.

Opposite him, Jack was simply nodding in agreement as he passed the drinks over. "That is so true. That said, I have never actually seen her _really _talking with someone outside of the professor, her butler and myself. It's a good thing she met you, or so I hope. She is a bit too hardworking in my opinion, so having more friends would do her some good. She used to be really stiff whenever I spoke to her, but lately she's been rather… smoother, for the lack of a better term."

Slightly taking a sip of his drink, he could only cough in surprise at the sudden hotness of his chosen drink, the Ginza Mary. Opposite him, Jack let out a heartfelt chuckle.

"I think the usual amount of tabasco sauce is 4 dashes, but knowing the bartender, he probably put 6 or so. Don't say I didn't warn you."

As he laughed at Minato, the feeling of warm joy echoed through his soul, energizing the Magician Arcana as Jack went back to looking melancholically out the window.

"I the first time I met Annie was back when I was a police officer, maybe three or four years ago? She's actually the one who hired me into the SSI and trained me in magic sensing. Despite my efforts over the years she still outclasses me in that regard. She just has that raw talent coupled with skill that no amount of effort can overpass. She gets quite the subtle dislike from some of the others at times."

Thinking back to his prior spar with her, he could only agree with Jack's thought. That said, he still wasn't sure if that instinctive talent was due to her nature as a Campione or actually from herself.

Or both.

"She hasn't changed much you know. Even back then she was a workaholic. At times she would work alongside me in Artifact Investigation and the next day be talking with the Information Committee about diplomacy. All business and no fun. Even now I can barely get small talk from her and the other members don't even bother anymore."

Seeing Jacks slightly depressed face, he tried to cheer him up.

"That's not true. I happen to know that Annie does consider you a good friend, she just isn't that good at articulating the fact."

Minato was rewarded with a grateful smile and a slight wink for his meagre attempt to raise the mood. "Heh. Thanks. I'm not too worried about her though. From what I can tell she now has someone new looking out for her, so hopefully he will live up to my expectations."

Minato could only shake his head at that.

"So what about you Minato? We don't know much about each other and it seems we'll be working together soon, so hit me with it! What did you used to do before joining our merry band of magical practitioners? From what I heard you're assigned to work under John Smith, so you must be skilled. He doesn't usually take on people, the only person being Annie as far as I know. Sometimes I help him out, but I'm more of a nuisance most of the time unfortunately. Those Campione… just can't compete with em'."

What could he tell him? It would probably be a good idea to take this opportunity to actually solidify what he could and couldn't tell people. Thinking back about what his journey entailed, it wasn't that hard.

He just had to replace shadows with divine beasts and vaguely describe everything else. Adding that John Smith putting his past information as confidential might allow him to bypass most inquisitive prying hands at any rate. Messing with the leader of the organization never bodes well.

"As you probably realized, I'm Japanese and grew up in Tatsumi Port Island. Wasn't too shabby or amazing, though certain places on the island had amazing views."

"I know exactly what you mean. There are some places in Los Angeles where you would doubt if it looked good, but when you're up at, for example where the Hollywood sign is, and the view is absolutely magnificent. That's actually where I took my girlfriend for her first date. Unforgettable."

Yeah. If there was anything he would remember for the rest of his life, it was the view from on top of the school's roof, and the memories that accompanied them.

Aegis…

"Enough about me, I heard some interesting information about you today. I won't pry too much, but I read that you were actually tested against John Smith for your trial. You must be rather powerful, it's a shame that you hadn't joined us sooner. That's nearly unprecedented you know. Most people only get tested by one of the senior members or the SSI council. Hopefully he didn't weird you out too much. He's a bit ecstatic in his choice of clothes and acting. He's amazing, don't get me wrong, but he has those really irksome quirks such as coming in at the last chance to save the day."

If he hadn't been looked up at Jack, he wouldn't have missed the slight annoyance that briefly flashed across his face, disappearing as fast as it had come. It seemed that even the jolliest of people had secrets.

The bonds of friendship were truly a powerful force.

Thinking back to the American god-slayer, he could only wonder whether the change in personality was an ability or her actually acting. The Campione's outfit had quite a similar resemblance to that of the TV show that Ken would sometimes watch on the dormitories TV downstairs, so perhaps she had been easily impressible as a child.

"Sorry by the way. I keep forgetting you're new to the club and usually new members get the rundown by someone showing them the ropes, but you kind of skipped that stage. When you get the chance, ask Annie for access to the BIOS system."

At Minato's questioning look, he gestured with his hands vaguely in an attempt to describe it.

"It's like an information database that's activated with magic. It's a group project between the major mage associations mostly lead by the councils of each one. For the most part Campione's don't really care what goes on in their associations, so it's just more easier for us to exchange information since quite a few of the god-slayers personalities are… spontaneously unique. Not knowing that they were going somewhere could cause a…"

Much to his amusement, Jack quickly grabbed the attention of the passing waiter in order to get another drink before resuming his mutterings.

"…international disaster. Each of the associations are under the hold of a Campione for the most part, but I think they were considering letting a few of the ones not led into the fray such as the Seven Sisters. They certainly are prestigious enough, but they simply don't have enough hold in power."

Minato leaned his head on the palm of his hand for a second in thought as he mustered up the courage to drink the rest of his cocktail in one gulp. He knew he wasn't the slyest political piece on the board yet, nor the most informed and he was perfectly sure that he wasn't a politician so he decided to make sure to contact the Sisters when he had the chance.

"The Witenagemot and the Royal Arsenal at each other's throats though. It's a surprise they still cooperate in the project, but I guess keeping an eye on the troublesome doings of other Campione take precedence. Pure survival instinct if anything. The Holy Cult of the Five Mountains are as quiet as ever though. At least the History Compilation Committee are making constant contact. I guess it's because they don't have a trouble god-slayer to try and reign in."

"How come they are part of the project if they don't have a Campione then?"

All he got in response at first was a shrug and the sound of alcohol being drunk.

"I guess it's because they share their territory with the Hime-miko. They're abnormally unique and descendants of divine ancestors to boot. Once when I went to Japan for business, I witnessed one practicing magic to channel the power of a god. Makes my hair stand on end just remembering it."

Absentmindedly he wondered how much in common he had with such Hime-miko, as it sounded like their powers might be similar to his own in some way.

"That said, only women can become Hime-miko…"

Perhaps not.

"…but I must say, they were some of the stunningly beautiful women I have ever seen. Just looking at them made the tingling feeling all worth it. Not as beautiful was my girlfriend, mind you, but damn."

Minato simply nodded vaguely in agreement while swirling his glass as he watched the ice cube skate around the edges.

As if to break the peaceful atmosphere that only drinking with work acquaintances could create, Jack's phone lit up and started ringing.

"Oh, it's my wonderful girlfriend!"

Quickly answering his phone with obvious delight, Minato could only be amused. He didn't think even Junpei could be that hyped about his girlfriend calling.

…Or maybe he could.

They would make great friends, in retrospect.

"Allison? What's up? Hm. Okay. You're lucky I only had two drinks. Anything else? Alright, I'll be back soon. Okay, see you then!"

Now a lot more jovial than before, Jack got up and gestured to the door. "Whelp, seems like she ran out of topping for the dessert, so I gotta drop by on the way back and grab some or she'll kill me. I'll give you a lift home since you don't have a licence yet, right?"

Oddly enough, while Minato did know the basics of driving, he had never actually done it. After all, technology didn't work in the dark hour and getting around Tatsumi Port only ever took a short work or a ride on the monorail.

* * *

Upon arriving back at to his current residence earlier than expected, he was surprisingly greeted with the curious sight of Dennis dutifully serving glasses of unidentifiable alcohol to the slightly disheveled master of the house as she lay sloppily on the living room couch.

Sighing in slight worry, Dennis quietly made his way over to Minato who was standing in the doorway watching with concern.

"Could you keep her company for now? The best I can do is simply listen to her ramble and that's she knows that well, even when intoxicated. It's not as bad as it could have been, but something has her spirit's down and a good conversation might help her greatly."

Giving a slight nod, he made his way over to Annie, dropping himself carefully into the couch opposite her.

Looking up with mildly glazed eyes, she stared into his own accepting ones for a few seconds before picking up a glass, filling it then pushing it into his face.

With a thankful nod, he wordlessly accepted the glass and took a sip, noting that it was quite a bitter beverage as he waited for her to open up.

It was a similar habit that people with personal problems tend to have as he knew well, and all they needed was someone to be there and listen. And if there was anything he was good at, it was listening.

After a minute of melancholic drinking, she opened up another bottle and poured another small cup as Dennis walked over and removed the empty bottles around the table.

"When I was little, I used to watch cartoons, every morning before school without fail. Not the girly ones the other children expected me to watch like the ones with princesses, but the action ones. The ones with super heroes who would pop up at just the right time and save the day, each time without fail. I always got funny looks whenever I started talking about it and all the other kids thought it was weird, so they would leave me to read or plane alone… even when I stood up for a bullied classmate, he would soon join the others and join in to poke fun at me."

Looking thoughtfully at the women across from him, he could see why she wasn't that good with interacting with people with a past like that. It kind of reminded him of Ken in a strange way.

Kids truly could truly be the cruelest beings at times. Many times had he walked past the temple and seen the ostracized kid repairing her broken sandcastle as the other kids stood laughing.

"I always wanted to be a superhero, even though the others told me that girls couldn't be superheroes, I was determined to do it. Someone that could protect those she loved, the places she loved and the things she loved. I thought that never once could a hero do no wrong. I was blind. So very blind. Do you know the reason why superheros use a different persona when doing their job?"

Taking a moment to realize that she meant persona in a different context, he shook his head and gestured for her to continue.

"It's not because they want to keep their identity a secret to protect those associated with them. Well, it is partly, but that's not the real reason… It's because the weight of a superhero's failure is too much for one person to handle. All the superheroes in TV swoop in and save the day, but what about the ones that they didn't get to in time?"

Taking a drink, she looked up sadly at him. "Have you ever seen a person die in front of you, when you could have saved them?"

"Yes… he died surrounded by his friends as his heart gave out."

He could still remember the first time Shinjiro's blood scattered the floor, the bullet's firing sound echoing down the alleyway accompanied by cries of anger and sorrow. It had been a real wake-up call to the S.E.E.S member's, and he had vowed never to let a person die again if he could have prevented it.

Looking down sadly, she poured another two cups, golden liquid flowing out of a freshly opened bottle before handing one over.

It seemed like having a god-blessed body did wonders for closet alcoholics if the women opposite him was anything to go by.

"Nine years ago, it would have been. A few months after John Smith had been born. Back then the heretic magic community was substantially larger than it was now. I had been tracking a known rogue cultist, but he had been skilled at concealing himself. Ended up chasing him and took him out just before he got to his target. Disgusting person. Found out that he had been aiming for not a child, but a baby. Not only just a baby, but an orphan baby. Governments didn't spend too much resources on orphans back then. Just thinking about it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth."

A moment of silence passed over the room as she drank the rest of her drink in one swift go.

"His name was Joshua Brightstone. He was very kind. I would visit him every few weeks after moving him to a foster home and every time I visited, his smile would brighten up like sunlight."

Narrowing her eyes briefly in drunken anger, it quickly faded to replace once again with sadness.

"There was a disturbance in western Las Feliz tonight. Sixty seconds. All it took was a single minute and I was too late. His 9th birthday would have been this weekend, you know?"

Closing his eyes in realization, Minato could close his eyes and momentarily pray. While whether or not he considered himself religious was yet to be seen, he at least believed in gods.

More than now than ever.

"You know who the real superheroes are? Doctors. Surgeons. Hospital staff. Hundreds of people all over the world die because they weren't fast enough to operate or equipment was missing. Sometimes its fate, but nevertheless, the people who they get the most blame from is themselves. Yet they don't wear a mask. They truly are the strong ones. Even as John Smith, I still feel weak. No matter how much I try to protect Las Vegas, I can never seem to fully protect anyone. I can never seem to be the superhero that I once dreamt of being. And yet... I still cling to that childish hope that one day I be able to make it in time so I never again have to see sight of dying eyes looked back into mine. I'm a slayer of gods, yet here I am drinking way my sorrows.

Putting her bottle down forcefully, she pulled herself up, and with a questionable level of swaying made her way down the hall to her room, Dennis following quickly as he whispered to Minato on the way out.

"I give you my thanks, sometimes she just needs someone to talk to and the professor is busy tonight. This only ever happens once every few months. Surprisingly, her personality changes when she drinks, but she was a lot mellower this time than her previous drinking escapades. I have never seen her this sad in a long time."

Despite not knowing the kid, Minato could only feel the sad atmosphere seeping into him too. The kid had his whole life ahead of him, and at nine years old he was gone.

As the two figures disappeared down the dark hall, he could feel the bond of the Justice Arcana hum faintly in the distance despite the melancholic mood.

* * *

Minato breathed in slowly for a few seconds, then let go calmly, repeating the process multiple times as he sat alone on the cold floor that sprawled the underground basement. He had found that while he was preparing for that full moon that signaled the coming time for a battle, one of the best things he could do was to meditate.

Closing his eyes and letting his mind go blank, he felt his grip on the world slip faintly away, until the world was just a silent background program. While meditation was usually a method used to access the mindscape, with a few tweaks and the right mindset, he had soon been able to delve into his own velvet coloured sea of souls.

The feeling of falling washed over him, but slowly faded away as he came to a light stop, his feet hit the ground with a light tap.

The place of his greatest achievement.

A reminder and monument of his sacrifice and journey, overlooked by the watchful gaze of the large green moon towering above him.

While he had varying feelings associated with the place he found himself at, such as dread and success, he couldn't deny that it was a place that was quite important to him.

What a fool he was.

All around him, in a three hundred and sixty degree angle stood weapon stands. Wooden ones, metal ones, flaming ones.

All of them holding the power of his links solidified. Lucifer's Blade. Laevateinn. Mjolnir. Gae Bolg. All of them able to appear at his beck and call to strike down his enemies.

Looking up into the space-less void, he was once again reminded of the beauty of the soul.

Shining brightly like stars in the sky, every one of his bonds in their many incarnations looked back down at him as they drifted through the sky.

To his left, the golden Kohryu shone brightly like a star-bound celestial formation contrasted only by the shadow-bound Beelzebub and his the dark mist to his right, with every other avatar floating in between.

As a rule, his persona's didn't have the capability to communicate with him and the closest interaction he had with them in the past being shallow emotions such as happiness, anger or reassurance. Despite that at first it may have looked like it was pointless to do such a thing, after many weeks of habitual sessions he had gotten results.

He could cast spells without using his persona. By spending time with his persona, just like with living things, he became more used to them, despite them being a foreign existence in his soul, and he would continue until he was completely in sync with them.

He could feel them housed in his body, the war gods guiding his subconscious movements and spells as he went about his life. The bonds of his friendship still guiding him, universes apart.

As a final gift of mastering and not just 'forging' his links, he learnt how to call upon fire, ice and all manner of different spells, just because he _understood_ them completely. The spells were not as strong as they would have been, but at the same time not as costly on his mana reserves.

Perfect for 'testing the waters', so to speak.

Deciding on his exercising, he stood up and stretched his hands, the sound of thunder crackling delightedly in response.

Even heroes needed to practice.

* * *

A few days later, the two investigators found themselves walking under the moonlight through the nearly devoid streets of Cabo San Lucas. They would have arrived slightly sooner, but it turns out that Jack had an interesting condition.

Jack had had air sickness.

For a mage who had to travel around and search for artifacts, it was quite the problem and Minato could only wonder why he was assigned the job in the first place.

Rather than taking a straight plane trip there, they ended up getting off halfway at Hermosillo, then catching a later plane. It took a few hours more, but they had both agreed that it was better than the alternative 18 hour drive.

Finding the Tome of the Wolf, as it was alternatively called, was no easy task Minato had found out. They had been walking around the city for an hour and even with Jack's sensing skills, not a single spec of magic had been felt.

"I know it's here. It has to be, I can feel the magic but it's like a blanket. Unless something happens, we'll end up wandering around for hours yet…" Jack muttered for the sixteenth time.

It must be frustrating, knowing that something is there, yet not being able to provide the people depending on you with what they need. In the back of his mind he made a note to thank Fuuka for her work when he got the chance.

Of course, Minato had no intention of spending the next few hours blindly looking. Of course he had an idea, but it was a long shot, albeit a calculated one.

The tome of the wolf was said to turn people into fur-covered animals and after looking through many of the wolf tales prominent in European folklore and comparing them to the reports, he had decided that the tome might be transforming people into werewolves.

The concept of humans turning into werewolves under the moon was of course popularized, but was it was only one of the many theorized methods, others being wearing belts of wolf skin, magic salves, drinking from enchanted streams and following a potion formula.

Despite that, the idea of the moon triggering transforming at midnight was a falsely popularized one, and actually had roots in a time of the day 'Witching Hour', a time of the day where witches, demons and ghosts are thought to appear and black magic at its strongest. Black magic like a werewolf curse.

It also so happened that the literal meaning of witching hour was midnight, which was coincidentally only few moments away.

"Jack, get ready."

At his sudden order, he looked at Minato with a confused look.

"For what?"

Rather than answer the question, Minato simply decided to avoid answering him and instead give him an amused look.

"Is something going to hap-"

* * *

_A loud howl pierced the night sky._

_It was time._

_Time to feed._

_Hungry._

_But need to be careful._

_Careful or they find me. _

_And then I cannot feed._

* * *

Deftly moving through the dark streets with Jack on his heels, the sound of howling once again resonated in the distance.

"The centre of the magical fluctuations is only a bit more forward to the left. Be careful though, whatever let out that roar moved fast. It's already covered the distance we ran and then some in the same amount of time. Most artifacts have a defense mechanism, and I would bet this week's wages that whatever roared will come rushing back the moment we tamper with it."

Coming to a stop in front of an abandoned warehouse, they opened the already broken door and stepped inside. The stagnant smell of bones and old flesh greeted them as they made their way through the dusty room.

Slowly walking closer to the source, days old bones and flesh came into view, causing the two to pinch his nose in discomfort.

Next to him, the disgusted face of Jack turned to look at him.

"Is… is that human?"

As horrifying as it would have been, it was not. Looking closer for a brief moment at the pile and then briefly around the room to see if anything looked out of place, he came to a conclusion.

Many times he had watched Shinjuro try to teach Fuuka how to correctly create a meal that didn't resemble dog food, much to Konomaru's silent displeasure.

"No, it's not. If it were human, there would be more human bones, not to mention possible clothes. These bones are those of cows. Or chickens. Things you find at a butcher. It wasn't with the reports, but normal crime cases that came up in the area suggested robbery of stores."

Of course, to survive this long without being found means the animal was either smart or retained some of its intelligence. Attacking humans would have easily put it high the priority list. Small robberies, well, not so much.

Moving away from the badly smelling pile in the corner, the sight of a leather-bound book greeted them as it sat neatly on a well-kept table looking strangely out of place in a dust covered warehouse.

"Well, will you do the honor of removing it, or shall I?" asked Jack, looking around nervously.

"You do it. Nothing could possibly go wrong."

* * *

_How dare they._

_They cannot take him from me._

_I will stop them._

_Rip them to shreds._

_Until the move no more. _

_Then I have my precious._

* * *

With a hint of only a fragment of shadowed movement as a warning, two large blood-stained claws of the werewolf struck down from above in a failed attempt to catch Minato by surprise. The furred beast was at least 2 meters tall, and for what it lacked in accuracy, it made up in pure ferocity.

Swiveling around to the side of the werewolf as it once again lunged forward and missed, Minato took the chance and materialized Lucifer's Blade while slashing leaving a large bleeding gash in its wake.

A large gash that started to heal as soon as it was formed, much to his annoyance.

Cursing under his breath for what seemed like the tenth time, the werewolf spun around once again, its claws flashing through the air swiping dangerously close to his arm.

"Jack, what are you doing over there and how is he healing? It's starting to get really tiresome."

Ducking down as the large arm of the wolf flew through the air passing where his head previously was, he mustered all his power and punched at the werewolves now exposed stomach with his free hand, sending him reeling backwards away from the two magicians.

Charging forward to keep the wolf at bay, the loud voice of Jack echoed through the warehouse.

"It seems to be drawing power from the tome to heal itself! I have a feeling that as long as its witching hour then it's not going to stop regenerating. I'm working on sealing it as we speak, so just hold on! If you can manage to force him to heal more, then I'll have a greater chance on sealing it! Be careful though, it seems to be on par with a minor Divine Beast!"

Minato could only click his tongue at that. That's good and all, but he didn't know what that actually meant, only that it was probably not easy to kill.

"All right doggy, you're just an over-sized puppy. Even Konomaru could take you out!"

Despite the werewolf not understanding a thing he said, Minato's mocking tone of voice was telling enough.

In a furious roar it lunged forward, claws outstretched.

"What a simple minded beast. Are all divine beasts this pathetic?"

_God's Fist._

With the comforting feeling of his most reliable persona behind him, he met the beasts charge straight on with a large golden fist sending the beast flying backwards into the wall causing it to fall on top of him, burying the wolf under masses of dust and bricks.

While he would have made use of Messiah's Absorb Pierce, the problem with fighting the werewolf close up was that its attacks were for the most part, plain incomprehensible.

What would have been pierces could turn into slashes, and what could have been slashes were pierces and despite his own confidence in taking damage, he would rather not find out firsthand what a Divine Beast direct hit could do.

It seemed like brute force was the only concrete strategy at this point.

Or at least, the more preferred strategy until he moved the battle further away from Jack.

"It's working Minato! The book is quickly losing its power! I'll have it sealed any time now!"

His eyebrows frowning in concern, Minato could only curse under his breath at the increasing magic in the air.

* * *

_No!_

_Must kill them!_

_My Precious!_

_NO!_

* * *

As if to confirm his suspicions, the dust of the impact faded away and the body of the werewolf picked itself up from the rubble where it had landed, no longer the large furred creature it previously was.

There was no doubt in his mind that the fist wouldn't have done enough damage to use up the tomes energy.

Hell, the force of God's Fist was probably was cancelled out by just the wolf's charge.

The air around the werewolf was resonating with a deep scarlet aura to a point where it was almost solid, it's colour matched only by the werewolves gleaming eyes.

That wasn't what concerned Minato however.

It was the fact that the werewolf's head was now almost touching the ceiling.

The ceiling of a warehouse.

In a roar of spectacular rage, the behemoth lunged forward, much faster than he expected something so large to be capable of.

Bringing up his blade just in time to block just in time, the large bloodstained claws clashed into him, the pure force and size behind the swing sending him flying backwards into the wall behind him and straight though it.

Pushing himself back up, Minato could only imagine himself as a ragdoll being thrown around if he let this go on for too long.

He also had no doubt that a ten meter tall werewolf wouldn't go unnoticed for long.

Quickly rolling to the left to dodge the large mass of teeth, claws and debris that chased him, he concentrated upon his soul, calling Messiah to materialize into existence.

It had taken many years of practicing, but once he came to terms with himself and Messiah while locked in the Seal, the need for the evoker to establish the link disappeared. If the evoker was the ferry across the river, then all Minato did was build the bridge.

And more importantly, with his persona materialized he was no longer casting spells by himself.

While he was skilled enough to cast spells with intensity and power highhandedly that rivaled his past team members, years of experience and relentless fighting did not come without reward.

Although he would prefer to keep his true power a secret, no one was around to see it and Jack was no doubt busy still trying to seal that tome.

Besides, he didn't destroy the Avatar of Nyx by pure chance.

He was the god-damn savior.

The messiah.

As the large divine beast closed in once again, Minato simply clicked his fingers as a barrage of large golden fists smashed into the divine beast, easily twice as large as his previous ones due to Messiah's involvement.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Carefully making sure to fully heal himself every few seconds, he made a snap decision and decided that it was soon time to end this squabble.

As much as he hated it, calling upon God's Hand actually damaged him even if it wasn't visible as his majority of his physical spells.

"You're a tenacious one, aren't you?"

In reply to Minato's mocking, the beast pulled itself back up slowly, now bruised and battered but still managing to hold onto life, its wounds no longer being healed.

"Messiah, if you don't mind?"

In a silent affirmative nod, a colourless orb humming so strongly with power that it droned out everything else started to form in front of Minato, slowly growing larger with every second.

_Megidolaon._

"Sayonara."

* * *

"Wow, what happened here?" asked Jack while glancing at the size of the small crater sitting in front of Minato.

"The almighty called. He wanted his pet dog back."

To his strange answer, Jack could only give him a confused look.

"I get the feeling there's a joke in there, but I don't get it. Anyway, sorry for taking so long. This book is one of the hardest ones I have had the chance to disable and it's my specialty is magical items for god's sake." He muttered in a dejected tone. "Anyway, looks like the book used up the rest of its power to transform the werewolf into some sort of Divine Beast. I didn't have the time to turn around but I could tell it was god damn huge from the sounds of it."

Looking left to see Minato's depressed face, he moved closer to get a better look at the crater.

"It was a human…." replied Minato solemnly. "I ended up killing a human. Before it vanished, it returned to being a human."

A reassuring hand landed on his shoulder gently, as if to absorb some of his burden. "Most curses tend to do that. Back when I was dealing with the Cult of the Flies that was common place. It was either him or you, or worse, someone else."

Minato silently nodded and turned to leave, his face nearly devoid of any emotion. "You got the tome? Let's go home."

Still, while it was not the first time he had killed someone in the name of justice…

…it still left a bitter taste in his mouth all the same.

* * *

Two plane trips later and Minato found himself back home under the scrutinizing gaze of his benefactor who had gone on to question him quite thoroughly if he was okay, how it went and if any 'natural disasters' came about that she needed to report and get fixed up.

And also to remind him to write up the mission report. One he was not looking forward to writing.

"Sounds troublesome. Divine Beasts don't appear that often, not without the help with a Heretic God or Campione at least. Of course after our spar, I had no doubt you could handle anything an old dusty book could send at you. Take a rest for the next week or so. You deserve it. Also, Jack seemed pretty happy when I exchanged a few words with him in passing, so good work."

He nodded in response as he picked up one of the apples in front of him and bit into it. She had a good eye for fruits, he must admit. "By the way, where is Dennis? I would imagine I would have seen him around by now."

"He left soon after you got back to deliver the tome back to Voban. As much as we would like to keep it, such a potentially dangerous object should just be left alone. Plus, holding an item directly affiliated with a Campione's Authorities without permission is one of the worst ideas, next to stealing the item of a Heretic God."

It was an idea that Minato could easily agree upon. "By the way, could you give me access to the BIOS system?"

Annie nodded easily as she picked up another piece of fruit, this time a mandarin. "Sure, your profile is uploaded already. You should check it when you have the chance as all important people are granted the option to choose what to disclose outside of normal statistics."

"How did mine get up there? Am I really that notable already?"

In reply to his question, all he got was a raised eyebrow, as if to ask if he was seriously asking that question.

"You're working under John Smith, had contact with The Mistress of Caves and took out a divine beast. Don't underestimate yourself Minato, your worth quite more than what you think. And by the way, I was the one who put yours up there."

In the midst of thanking Annie, he was interrupted by an incoming call, which a few seconds later lit up.

The figure of an intellectual old man entered the screen, with deep dark eyes that gave off a glint of hidden ferocity.

Despite his age, the man's body gave hints of being a toned efficient fighter.

Looking back at Annie, he was concerned to see her face no longer one of peace or even business. Rather, it was one of concern and alertness. Taking the initiative, she addressed the grey aged man while giving a slight curt nod. There was obvious some dislike in her gaze, but whether it was reciprocated was questionable.

"Sasha Dejanstahl Voban. It is not every day we get a call from someone from your position. Is this about the tome, per chance?"

The old aged face of the Hungarian Campione filled the screen, his predatory eyes gleaming not at Annie, but at Minato. It took all of his courage to meet the gaze of the elder Campione unflinchingly, feeling much like a sheep being looked upon by a wolf.

"I could care less about some worthless tome. You with the blue hair. You are the one who gathered my tome, was it not?"

"Yes, that was me." Minato answered carefully, looking to see what the Campione was planning.

"What is your name young one? I daresay you know of me, but you… I do not know of you yet." He spoke slowly, as if every word was a judgement ready to be dealt.

"Minato Arisato. It is a pleasure to meet you, Duke Voban. What brings you to this call, if not the tome?"

At this, the eyes of the Hungarian Campione shone to life. "Why, shouldn't that be obvious to someone as strong as you? Doesn't the blood boil in your blood just speaking to me? Do you not want to fight, and truly find out if you are the strongest?"

Gesturing grandly at Minato, he proclaimed, "You shall come to my residence in Hungary within three days, and we shall fight to our hearts content!"

Then the screen went blank.

* * *

Once again, Minato found himself surrounded by books. Unlike last time however, he found himself with company. Upon hearing Voban's proclamation, Annie let loose a light swear under her breath and started ordering a large range of books and tomes to be delivered to her house.

"Are you completely sure that I can't just not fight him?"

To his question, Annie could only hopelessly shake her head in frustration. "As much as I wish that could happen, it won't. Denying a Campione anything just does not work. If you didn't come, he would simply track you down like a wolf and hunt you. Three years ago or so, he went around taking Miko's and sacrificed them to summon a god because he was bored."

The more Minato found out about the Hungarian ages Campione, the more he disliked him.

"I'm sorry Minato, but I can't help you with this. If he knew of a sure-fire way to get a hold of John Smith personally, he would no doubt want to fight and holding Los Angeles hostage is something I wouldn't put it past him to do. The best I can do is transport you there and back, and maybe rescue you if things get out of hand." Looking up at the women across from him, he was met with an apologetic face that had a hint of anxiety and sadness.

"It will be fine." He said while giving the most confident look and smile he could muster. Seemingly lifted from his encouragement, she returned an embarrassed smile, which soon turned back to one of business, though he could swear he saw a hint of determination in her eyes somewhere.

"I have my rounds to do around the city soon, but I'll be back later to help."

Giving a thankful nod as she left the room, he turned back to the stacks of various books pertaining to his upcoming enemy's history and Authorities.

It was time to make a plan.

* * *

"I can't believe this."

If you asked people around the University if they had ever seen Annie acting anything other than serious, they would look at you with a look that clearly said 'Are you an idiot?' before walking off.

Taking on her alter personality of John Smith every few days, she was had a good grasp on her emotions lettering her switch between serious business mode and confident leading mode, except when confronted with, of course, romance.

Unfortunately, the most recent days had not treated her kindly at all.

Firstly she had to worry about Minato retrieving the Tome of the Wolf. She knew that it should be an easy task, but she couldn't help but feel a sense of dread, which had of course come to fruition as she soon found out afterwards.

Luckily her fears were unfounded for the most part as he easily dealt with the Divine Beast. She had thought about it for a while and she had come to a conclusion that while Minato was an extremely strong mage, he was more similar to a Divine Ancestor despite the idea of male Divine Ancestors not being recorded ever in history.

She was sure that he still hadn't fully realized just how much of a game-changer he was. As the person who submitted his report onto the BIOS, she could see how many and who accessed his file. To her discontentment, lately it had visits from quite a few meaningful people who she was sure would make a move on him soon enough.

She couldn't help but feel a sense of pride and happiness however. She knew that he had an honest heart and wanted to protect the city and its residents just as much as she wanted and it was a nice feeling for a change.

It didn't matter to her whether he was a heretic god, Campione or Ancestor. He was kind and wanted to protect others, and that was good enough for her. Just like Jack, but at the same time different.

Guiding her thoughts away from the two, she directed her attention back to the most pressing issues that garnered her attention. Two rather concerning issues had arose lately.

Namely, the Lord of the Flies. Just thinking about them made her grip her first in anger.

Once upon a time she had dismantled the group and killed the leader, but not before hundreds of people had been sacrificed.

They worked silently and effectively. To the world they had declared that they worked under the Divine Ancestor Leviathan, but Annie wasn't so sure. After killing the Ancestor, she had looked into the bases that the group had stationed around Los Angeles and not a single one mentioned their goals, or even gods for that matter.

It was as someone had just hired them to do it.

She had brought it to the attention of other organizations, but they had dismissed the idea until very recently.

It irked her greatly, but she had only found out a few days ago of their presence thanks to Minato. With that lead, she had found a few more bases scattered around, but nothing _big._

They seemed to be leftovers.

Stragglers.

Survivors.

So little in size she had nearly not noticed them among the large mage population.

But she knew better. If there was one thing that Heretic Gods, Campione and Divine Ancestors had in common, it was pride. Pride to be the strongest, to rise above all others, to get revenge.

And she knew that the Lord of the Flies had plenty of reasons to get revenge.

But for now she could do nothing for now. They had all but disappeared and the captured cultists had silenced themselves permanently with fail-safes, just another of the signature aspect of their group.

She could think about that later though.

Her biggest problem and the largest reason for her recently displeased personality was the wolf Campione.

Although she didn't show it, she was a mixture of panicked, concerned and angry. She was aware that her counterpart god-slayers had unique personalities, she admitted she had one herself at times, but _his_ was just so incredibly troublesome. While nearly every other Campione could be reasoned with, and had been in the past, the only one who barreled on ahead without stopping was Duke Voban.

And now he had come after Minato. One of the few friends she had. While she didn't have that many, she valued the ones she did heavily.

She had done her best to provide him with as much history and information he could use against the Hungarian Campione as possible, but not matter what she did the feeling of uneasiness never left.

_Only a Campione or a god can stand up to another Campione._

That was rule.

She could only hope that Minato would satisfy Voban enough to let him live.

There was one thing that sat in the back of her mind however.

Just how did he find out about Minato, and why did he want to fight him?

* * *

"By my name as the king of the underworld I hereby decree. Make offerings to the legs of the beast traversing the dark night. O light, thou needst only to illuminate my path towards conquest!"

Upon mutterings these words, the city of Los Feliz became shrouded in darkness as the dark figure of a pitch black jaguar with a rider vanished across the ocean waves faster than the eye could see.

* * *

"This is as far as I dare come. The mansion seems to be about a five minute walk down this path. I'll be nearby watching if things get too out of hand."

Hesitating for a moment as the panther went to leave, it turned around and nudged his hand before quickly disappearing afterwards before he could say anything.

"_Don't die."_

"No problem…" he muttered to no one in particular as he started to walk down the dark forest road, the wind eerily washing past him.

He had wanted to fight in the sunlight, but Annie had dismissed that idea since one of Voban's powers was to invoke the night. Whether or not it was one of his Authorities or just his magic wasn't known, but after two hundred years of battling he wouldn't be a surprised if the Campione had learnt spells to bend the environment to himself.

"_You're lucky that it was Voban and not one of the other Campione, to be honest. After 200 years, we have a good grasp on his Authorities, however to get an accurate idea of them means someone would have to fight him and that doesn't happen often."_

Despite the road being deserted, he could only feel the gaze of someone watching him.

As unnerving as it was, soon enough he had forgotten about it as the sight of the mansion appeared grandly in the distance, towering over the top of the forest trees.

Reaching the large gates of a courtyard mansion, he was greeted by what he suspected was a servant of the mansion or something similar.

Looking closer at her, Minato could only attempt to describe her as a Fairy out of a fairy-tale.

Dressed in an elegant array of blue and black, she gave off a serene yet serious atmosphere as she bowed, her pearl-white hair swishing behind her lightly.

"Greetings Minato Arisato. My name is Liliana Kranjcar. Duke Voban has requests you meet him in the middle of the courtyard."

Matching her inquisitive gaze with his own polite one, he nodded and headed towards to the middle of the courtyard.

He could tell that despite not saying anything, the white-headed girl had given him a curious look that silently asked why a seventeen year old boy had been called to fight the Hungarian Campione.

Turning his head to look back at her briefly, he noticed the slight emotion of pity mixed in with her expression. He supposed he should get used to people underestimating him.

For now.

As he waited in the middle of the courtyard, it struck him just how plain the courtyard actually was as he cast his gaze around.

Other than the mansion, the concrete walls and gate barring the front of the house and the forests surrounding them was devoid of any trees or shrubbery, leaving only dirt and concrete paths.

The sound of the front door opening and footsteps on pavement brought his attention back to the old unpleasant individual in front of him dressed in a dark suit, a plain long sword hanging at his side.

Even standing a few meters away from him, he could feel the excitement rolling of him in such a matter that the air it around him was nearly palpable.

"It is good of you to come, Minato Arisato. If you didn't I would have come to_ fetch_ you and that would have been troublesome for both you and me, make no mistake."

Despite the small talk that had started, he could feel the old man's gaze boring into him, his arms flexing, his magic fluctuating. The being in front of him was not a human. He was a wolf. A beast. A devil.

"Don't look so alert Minato Arisato, it's early in the night yet and I wouldn't want such a young vibrant man as yourself to tire out so early. Too many times in the past has my prey laid itself bare in front of me? Where is the fun in the hunt then?"

As the old man spoke Minato was alerted to the multiple soft footsteps coming from the forest. Glancing around without losing sight of the wolf Campione, he could visually count what seemed to be fifteen or twenty large dark wolves in the corners of his eyes, each one growling softly.

Each one as exited for the hunt as their master.

_His first known authority, the Legion of Hungry Wolves. Gained when he slew Phoebus and Apollo, gods of the sun. Reports show that it allowed him to control wolves of divine origin._

"It would be bad of me not to entertain my guests. Why don't we warm up? You should be able to handle a few small wolves, no?"

With a swish of his hand, the wolves started to move in packs of three or four, revolving around him, pacing slowly while looking for a sign of weakness. It was common knowledge that wolves had a hunting instinct shared by many predators, but it was the first time he had witnessed the concept in person.

Shadows were not the epitome of hunting techniques, after all.

As if under instinct, the wolf behind him leapt forward in a flash as he turned away from it, its teeth biting strongly onto his arm, clamping down and administering all of its energy into trying to rip his arm off.

As if they had a hive mind, the legion of wolves dashed forward at the sight, their fangs aiming to overwhelm and rip him apart until there was nothing left but pieces of chewed up meat.

As much as a normal person would have screamed and wildly flailed around, Minato was not a stranger to overwhelming enemies, especially three or four at once. Hell, it was what he faced daily back in Tartarus.

Forcefully grabbing the head of the wolf that had taken his arm for a chew toy, he called upon the bonds of friendship with Kenji, the avatar of Surt roaring to life within himself.

Unable to dislodge the wolfs grip on his arm without damaging himself, he grasped the wolf's head tightly and the smell of burning fur and flesh soon filled the air as both his hands and arms lit up with bright hot flame, incinerating both the wolf and his clothes within moments.

Seeing the wolfs behind him about to reach him, he increased the heat output again until the wolfs head started to melt under the ferocity and ended up being crushed into nothing, its headless burning body falling to the floor.

"That heat, that destruction and that brightness. I can feel the heat from all the way over here. Do you have the blessing of Prometheus, or some other god perhaps? The pure power and control over that heat is not something you could easily learn and you don't look any older than twenty. It matters not however! You should know that magic like that is now here near hot enough, except to maybe burn my eyebrows off!"

Deciding not to answer Voban's one sided rambling, he reached into his soul as Surt passed him his signature weapon, Laevateinn.

_Maragidyne._

In a single swish of his burning sword, waves of burning flames enhanced by not only Surt, but also Laevateinn washed over the divine wolfs sending them tumbling forward, their legs unable to support their bodies as the sound of burning sinew and muscle filling the air.

Watching the slaughter from his location few feet away, Voban clapped slowly as the remaining wolfs went up in a dance of fire and flesh, leaving the charred concrete of the yard the only thing separating the two.

Turning around to fully face Voban, Minato's face was no longer that of annoyance or hesitance, but the same one as the Hungarian devil opposite him had.

If he wanted a fight so much, he was going to get it.

While he was not a battle fanatic, he once made a rule and stuck to it; Do your best in everything.

It didn't matter if it was his academics, his charm or his courage.

It didn't matter if it was an assignment, cooking or leading S.E.E.S.

He would take any task with confidence and do it as best as he could, and at the same time regret nothing.

In a flash of red fire, the dark crazed figure of Surt towered behind Minato his sword of fire shining brighter than the sun.

"I cannot say I recognize that divinity, but it matters not! Show me if you bite as hard as you bark!"

At Voban's urging, a new level of heat erupted from the Wild Card and his persona, the edge of the courtyard erupting pillars of fire that rose high into the sky causing the two fighters to be encased in a fire bound arena.

In a single slash downward, Minato muttered a word.

'_Ragnarok.'_

As if heralding from the Muspelheim itself, the fires of Surt exploded from all corners of the courtyard, fully encasing every square inch in pure white fire, a tower fire hundreds of meters high soaring straight into the sky, a testament to his power.

As the fires of creation and destruction died down and Surt de-materialized, Minato hoped to see a heavily charred Voban standing there.

Even if they were magic resistant, surely Campione wouldn't be able to tank the fire of a god's avatar without being affected.

Much to his surprise however, Voban stood there standing smiling with pillars of steam whistling around him, the only evidence of fire ever having been there being the singe marks on his clothes.

"Very good! Nothing like a good burst of flame to get my blood sizzling! That would have been set and match had I let it hit me. I might have high magic resistance, but against the flames of your divine sword, I dare not take changes. I even had to use one of my authorities to gather water in the air to protect myself. You have impressed me, Minato. Not many have forced me to defend myself in such a manner in many years."

Raising his sword so it was pointing level at Voban, Minato looked Voban directly in the eyes, the old man's excited eyes meetings his own fiery ones. "Why do you want to fight me? I'm just a mage. If you want to fight a mage, there are thousands out there."

"Hah. Young man, do you think me of a dullard? I saw the divine power's you called upon when dealing with my tome, anything it sees, I too can see. I intentionally cast it away to see who could seal it. You ask such a question yet here you stand, being able to match powers with me! I can see it in your eyes, you want to feel the thrill of the fight, just as I do! You may not be a Campione, but your one at heart. I am sure of that much, no matter how much you deny it!"

Minato cursed under his breath. As much as he liked to keep his powers under wraps, it seemed like that wish would go unfulfilled. There was no point hiding it now.

Besides, he had no idea just how many people the Campione may have told of his powers already and despite the Campione's single-minded hunger for battle, he was no doubt intelligent.

Seeing the change in Minato's eyes, the Campione gave a wolfish smile.

"Enough of this charade. Let's see how you fare against the legendary swordsmen of the past!"

In a burst of magic around the courtyard, all around him the shadows of darkness rose up from the cracks in the ground, gathering, solidifying until a small legion of undead warriors surrounded him wielding a wide manner of armaments.

_Cage of Undead Servants. Obtained from slaying Osiris, it gives power of the dead._

Not waiting for Minato to ready himself, the first few soldiers moved forward, their swords and spears aiming for critical parts of the body such as the jugular.

As Minato parried, he realized that despite them being undead, they were no means unskilled. In fact, they were probably famous fighters that Voban had once sought out to fight and then taken their souls after his victory.

Reaching into his own soul, he brought Lucifer to the surface while sending Surt back into the sea. As powerful as Surt was, he was an offensive based persona and he doubted that Voban would just call upon skeletons that would simply fall over when hit with fire. Alternatively, Lucifer granted resistance to slash, strike and pierce, something that the undead had droves of.

Thrusting his hand out, white hot waves of fire flowed out and through the waves of warriors, causing the first few to collapse momentarily, but the rest to simply shrug it off like it was just a wave of hot wind. Even if he had boosted the fire with Surt instead of Lucifer, he doubted it would do substantially enough damage to warrant the swap. Over the sounds of metal armor moving around him, the loud voice of Voban rang out.

"What do you take me for boy? Do you really expect famous warriors not to be resistant to their obvious weakness?"

In a swift motion, Laevateinn disappeared in a flash of fire, only to be replaced with a long, shining sword.

Lucifer's blade. A sword created from a fallen angels jewels, a testament to his link with his rival athlete.

Slowly maneuvering himself continually to the left so he was no longer surrounded by the encroaching skeletons, he started make use of Lucifer's resistance to mortal blades and rather than parrying or dodging, started to catch the swung blades with his hand, causing only a light wound slightly deeper than a vicious paper cut.

It may not be the most elegant way, but it left them wide open. Like judgement of the damned, each swing of Lucifer's Blade that made contact sliced cleanly through the warriors like butter. Where normal blades or even magical blades such as Laevateinn would have just impacted the armor with a resounding clang, the holy power of Lucifer pierced without fail.

Lucifer's Blade and Lucifer himself were derived from Latin proses such as 'Lucis' and 'Ferre' which in modern terms is 'light' and 'to bear'.

And if there was one thing that Minato knew, it was that undead and light did not mix.

Over the sounds of metal clashing, Minato could faintly hear the Hungarian Campione sigh in boredom.

"As I expected, simple wolves and servants are mere cannon fodder against those with divine power. I expected more from you Minato Arisato. Either bring out your true power or I will bring it out!"

In a wave of his hand, the recently slain soldiers behind Minato started to rise once again back up, hefting their swords once again like nothing happened.

Clicking his tongue in annoyance, he decided to appease the old man's wishes.

If he kept this up, all that would happen was him running out of mana sooner or later, and he didn't know if there was a limit on Voban's authorities. Also, the constant battling with undead soldiers was both starting to become tiring and repetitive.

Raising his hand into the air, a white light blossomed into existence in the sky directly above the courtyard causing the night to be illuminated, parting the dark clouds revealing a magical mixture of day and night to be seen in the sky above as the figure of Lucifer appeared in the heavens.

_Morning Star._

For a split second time seemed to slow down to a halt as everyone's gaze was redirected towards the light, like mosquitoes to a lamp.

Like diving judgement straight from the heavens, a large pillar of holy light erupted from the sky falling straight down into the middle of the skeleton infested courtyard, the bright light encasing the surrounding area blinding everyone and everything nearby.

In a grunt, Minato braced himself while bringing up his arm to cover his eyes as fragments of rocks, armour and bones were sent flying outwards in every direction.

"Calling upon the rebellious Seraph, if my eyes mythical knowledge does not betray me. You truly are an interesting one. My excitement only grows, Minato! I cannot hold back any longer, prepare yourself!"

* * *

"Can you stand stalwart under the mighty power of the storm? Against nature itself?"

As Voban walked closer over the piles of empty armor and charred ground, the loud sounds of wind and rain started to pick up in ferocity as the storm blanked the courtyard and forest, twigs and branches starting to break off and fly away.

Bracing himself for what was coming, he cast away Lucifer and called forward the energizing feeling of Thor.

The red-haired son of Odin and god of thunder. One of the most perfect gods to oppose Voban's authorities gained from the Chinese Weather Trio. Out of the three weather elements Voban had control over, Minato's first priority to block was thunder. Watching the wind roaring around Voban's body, he theorized that wind would only be used to augment his melee power while water was used in self-defense, if the blocking of his earlier Ragnarok was anything to go by.

In a burst of movement, Minato leaped forward, slashing at Voban with Lucifer's blade.

"Fool, do you think that I would actually let you touch me with that holy blade?"

Voban swung his own blade, but before the two blades came close to clashing, Minato felt his own blade be repelled by an invisible force, overpowering his own arm swing to send him tumbling back in confusion.

After momentarily matching his stare with the excited one of the Campione opposite him in order to buy time and figure out what happened, he soon realized the answer as feeling of being weightless came over him, the wind around him carrying him flying backwards into a nearby tree.

Voban was covering his blade with wind.

Not just wind, but the wind of a storm in its entirety.

Every swing carried with it the force of a typhoon.

Every slash the power of a tornado.

Looking around, he noticed the winds of the storm had calmed down as the focused around the Hungarian Campione, with only the rain remaining.

As he pushed himself up from the entanglement of branches, a bright flash of lightning soared down from the sky like a spear from the gods, hitting him squarely in the chest sending him reeling back, but otherwise unharmed. Thor might have given him protection against thunder-based spells but the power of pure thunder was not something to be laughed at.

"Ho? Being able to withstand my thunder that easily? You're quite the durable one. It seems the next generation of mages will be something to look forward to."

Readying his sword again, Minato focused his senses and attacked, sliding quickly along the wet concrete towards the awaiting Campione.

Calling upon the might of Thor into materialization, he swung down, Thor's hammer simultaneously striking the Hungarian Campione from different directions leaving no chance to counterattack.

_Vicious Strike._

Although the Campione attempted to block the strikes, he was still an aged old god slayer who specialized in his own authorities rather than physical armed combat and his efforts to block the vicious strikes from all angles went quite poorly.

"Truly amazing! If I'm not mistaken you wield the great power of the Norse Heretic God Thor? No wonder my lighting doesn't affect you. Yet you do not seem to be a Campione, nor claim to be one. Are you a Divine Ancestor of some kind? No, it does not matter. What only matters is that you can give me an exciting fight!"

Naturally Minato had no intention of answer that question no matter who asked it.

The best lie is the one that other people come up with as no one knows what the enemy wants to hear more than themselves.

Raising his weapon as if his wounds did not exist, Voban laughed maniacally and jumped forward, the wind trailing on his heels as the storm started to pick up. As a surprise to Minato's previous expectations, a simultaneous torrent of water crashed into him from behind flipping him forward, the gushing wave sending any previous thoughts of Voban using water for only defense flying with him.

Meeting him with a flying myriad of wind-enhanced kicks, Voban sent Minato soaring once again through the air and straight into the forest trees until he collided with an oak tree, coming to rest at the base, covered in bark, blood and leaves.

Taking the rare chance to heal himself with the distance the Campione had tossed him, he swapped out Thor as the visage of Cu Chulainn appeared behind Minato, its spear poised at Voban. While not as sturdy as Thor in the electricity regard, he still brought a strong resist to thunder if Voban decided to barrage him with thunder when given an opening.

"Simply magnificent. Not only do you possess the power of Thor and the previous godly incarnations, but also the Hound of Ulster? Is that all you are limited to? Just what kind of divine powers do you hold? Why have I not heard of you earlier? Not even some heretic gods gave me this much of a challenge!"

Minato watched closely as the figure of Duke Voban once again flew towards him before letting loose the power of Cu Chulainn and Scatchach.

It was an ironic move to use, but it served its purpose.

_Shadow Hound._

As he got closer multiple shadow replicas of the famous Irish student and his legendary mentor rose up from the ground to intercept the Campione mid-flight, circling him like hounds hunting their pray, their blades striking Voban causing his dark red blood to fly through the air.

Despite the wolf Campione easily having enough wounds that would have killed a normal man, he stood valiantly upright as if his injuries didn't exist.

"Yes! This is what I have been waiting for! It has been so many years since someone has given me an obstacle, and to think it wasn't even a Heretic God or a Campione that gave it at that! Don't go dying on me now!"

In a large crash of thunder, wind and magic, a wave of Déjà vucame over Minato as the figure of the elder Campione disappeared in a haze of dust and was replaced by that of an immense werewolf.

Straining his head to look up, he noted that the size of this one made the previous one look like a puppy in comparison, its height towering easily twenty meters high into the sky, its eyes gleaming downwards dangerously at the fool in front of him.

As far as Minato knew from his research, this was possible the absolute last trick Voban had up his sleeve in this battle when dealing with authorities, if he counted on Voban wanting the rush of combat than anything else.

Not willing to let the monster in front of him take initiative, Minato brought Messiah into existence, his shining form appearing above the Wild Card as golden fists of power converged into existence, homing onto the werewolf in an attempt to crush him.

"I saw what happened to my Divine Beast! Do you take me for a fool Minato Arisato?"

In a defiant roar, the fists collided with the werewolf but much to Minato's annoyance, the force of a dozen fists were not even strong enough to force the werewolf back or give him pause.

In a quick response to Minato's attempt of trying beat down the werewolf using his previous strategy, he soon found himself once again being chucked through the forest as he attempted to mitigate the force of the massive claws, his position in the battle now being eerily similar to that of a dog's favorite chew toy.

Pulling himself up from the tree he had been ledged in, the words of Annie from the previous day came to mind.

_The book of the wolf turned the person into a Divine Beast resembling a werewolf. I wouldn't be surprised if Voban himself had that power, if not more powerful. You'll need something strong to fight that._

Something strong.

There was one persona he knew that had strength in droves.

One he had felt resting in his soul long before he was aware of his destiny as a fool.

Standing up to face the monstrosity in front of him, he felt the familiar feeling of death surge up behind him.

Thanatos.

"The Greek god of death…" spoke the transfixed wolf in front of him who had momentarily stopped his onslaught in favor of absorbing the sight in front of him.

With a maniacal grin, he laughed, his wolfish guttural laugh soaring through the night. "I cannot think of a better Heretic to match claws with!"

As much as Minato wanted to take this carefully and find a weakness, he was staring to tire and he could feel his mana reserves dripping away. If he wanted to end this, he would need to take a chance and match brute force with brute force and hope to Nyx that he came out on top.

Calling Thanatos forward instantly, the Greek god's sword flashed over the wolf slicing him in the neck, arms legs, trying to make sure that the Hungarian Campione didn't have a chance to react. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

_Tempest Slash. _

_Brave Blade. _

_Tempest Slash. _

_Brave Blade._

Despite his large size and force behind Voban's clawed swings, every strike was parried seamlessly then counterattacked, lacerating him in a new area every time, slowly dying his fur red with his own blood.

Roaring in annoyance at the flying avatar of death, he swung his claws around with a ferocious roar, sending the Greek god momentarily flying into the ground before turning to the fool in front of him, who stood looking up at him fearlessly armed with only a blade.

Swiping his claws downwards in an arc in an attempt to crush the Wild Card in one decisive strike, a look of surprise came over his face as his claws met pure resistance as Minato caught his enormous claw with his blade without so much as flinching, his confident stare gazing straight back into Voban's soul.

There was two reasons why Minato chose to use Thanatos.

Not only did he have the highest strength statistic, but he also had a strong resistance to both slash and strike, not to mention heavy physical skills such as Brave Blade which made him the perfect counter for a Campione.

The second reason and the more important one, was that he had a passive skill called One-handed Sword Master, boosting Minato's own strength when using one-handed swords. One handed swords such as Lucifer's Blade. A perfect hidden card up his sleeve.

Having found his assault being stopped so completely with ease, he could only watch in mute surprise as Thanatos appeared next to Minato and in a deft movement, propelled the Wild Card directly onto the head of the wolf Campione and watched in slow motion as Lucifer's Blade embedded itself cleanly in between his eyes.

After a moment of stunned silence, as the tree's watched silently in apprehension, Voban spoke.

"What a magnificent move. Unfortunately for you, I would not be defeated by something so petty. Let it be known that I am Sasha Dejanstahl Voban, the oldest and wisest living Campione. My authority granted from Apollo gives me the glorious power of the sun, and your Lucifer's blade is just that, fool."

Of course, Minato had expected as much.

How could he not with all the piles of books that Annie had bestowed upon him?

"I know. Don't underestimate the fool."

Smiling dangerously into the wolf's eyes, Minato materialized his second weapon he had prepared.

Representing his bonds with Hidetoshi Odagiri, it was forged from the depths of his soul many years ago.

Gungnir.

The spear fashioned by the Sons of Ivaldi under the dwarf Dvalin, known to be so balanced that it could strike any target no matter the skill or strength of the wielder.

But most importantly, it was used by Odin to strike the mythological wolf Fenrir. And as far as Mythological wolf's go, Voban fit the requirements perfectly.

In a swift strike, final strike, the second weapon embedded itself into the wolf's head as the loud roar of the Hungarian Campione ringing through the air his magic dispersed outwards through the forest, leaving only the bleeding body of Sasha Voban in its place.

Barely being able to stand up, his body dyed red with his own blood, the figure of the aged Campione stood up laughing as if he was a child, and his birthday had come early.

"Very… Impressive. But… it's …not …over."

Looking Voban in the eye, Minato suddenly felt a heavy weight fall upon his body, his body stiffening slowly as his muscles and blood started to freeze.

He had not forgotten, but he hadn't expected the Campione to actually end up using it. It held no meaning to defeat an enemy with such a one-sided authority.

_The eye of Sodom, gained from Balor of the Evil Eye was able to turn anything he sees into salt._

Gritting his teeth as he switched back to Messiah to heal his affliction, Voban could only shake his head in tired amazement.

"Resistant to even my own eyes…" Voban muttered as he picked up his sword from the ground and pulled up into a battle stance, the faint sound of his blood dripping onto the concrete starting to fade away as the wind yet again picking up.

Minato let a sigh of relief as the feeling of brittleness left him.

It was a gamble, but he had hoped that his time spent as a seal had given him a resistance to similar forms of paralyzation. He would be damned if he didn't sit in a seal for years and still be weak to paralyzing curses.

As much as Voban wanted to keep fighting, Minato knew that it was over. It had taken the last of his mana to cast Salvation on himself to rid himself of the roman god's curse. He had nothing left.

It was over. The three hundred old Campione had won. He was disappointed, but for the age difference, he was content with the outcome.

"Voban, I concede this victory to you. I am now out of magical power. May I suggest that we postpone this fight for now?"

As much as the ancient Campione wanted to keep fighting, he too knew that it wasn't worth it at this point.

"As much as I want to continue fighting an opponent such as you, I will take up that offer. It would do me no good to kill someone who can give me a match, especially someone as powerful as yourself. It will not be the same outcome in the future however, for now I know of your powers."

Throwing his sword to the side as the storm all but disappeared, Voban made a gesture to the white-haired figure standing in the distance.

"It is impressive that there is someone like you in the world. I'm still not sure what you are, a Heretic god or a Campione, but you have managed to fight evenly with me. Dine with me sometime, as I would like to hear more about you. Just how did you get your powers? Are their more of people like you out there to fight? Do not hold off on me for too long however Minato Arisato. I desire to fight you soon enough, but not before you get stronger. Hopefully you will not disappoint my expectations."

As much as the blue-haired enigma wanted to run away and never look the wolf in the eye again, he knew that in the end, that just was a solution that wouldn't work. Quickly thinking up an excuse, he answered Voban, making sure to have a satisfied look on his face. He figured that to a person like Voban, acting like it was worth both their time rather than one person or the other was the best solution.

"Maybe in the future, Voban. Battle is like wine, it tastes better when left to age."

At Minato's remark, the old man could only raise an amused eyebrow. "Such wise words from one so young."

As the white-haired knight arrived, the ancient Campione addressed her without looking, as if she were merely a bother.

"Liliana Kranjcar was your name, was it not? Request some servants to clean this place up. I'm heading back to Hungary. I expect you back no later than tomorrow evening."

In a swish of his cloak, the Hungarian Campione left wordlessly as he strolled back through the forest towards his mansion. Gazing at his singed billowing cloak as Voban disappeared, he felt the Devil arcana flare to life, igniting him from the inside.

Looking back at the white-haired knight in front of him, Minato's gaze was met with one of respect, with a hint of something else. A cross between Fear and wariness.

It seemed that his display had nicely cowered her expectations. At least one thing about his reputation spreading was that he wouldn't be looked down upon. It wasn't something he was used to in the past and he certainly didn't like it.

"Your name was Minato Arisato if I remember correctly? In my master's place I apologize for the inconvenience he has caused you." She muttered politely as she bowed down.

Minato could only shake his head quickly. While he was used to be the leader of S.E.E.S and being respected, he had never gotten used to the subservient level that both Aegis and this Liliana Kranjcar seemed to output.

"No, it's fine. Please don't bow. I brought this on myself."

"If you don't mind, you say you are a mage and not a Campione or Heretic God? It is strange that I have not heard of you, even though you possess enough power to rival Duke Voban. Yet you wield the divine powers of the gods with ease. I used magic to overhear the fight, so I apologize if you take offense to such an act."

It seemed that despite the white haired fairy's polite nature, she was unnaturally inquisitive. As an excuse started to form in his mind, the feeling of the Empress bond started to shine to life. He had never noticed, but because of the small time frame of the two, he then realized that the feeling each bond was slightly different.

"I don't mind. I guess I'm just lucky to get unnoticed."

At his response Liliana could only give him a suspicious look mixed with caution before turning to leave. "It was nice meeting you but… while I was watching you fight, I could only think of how easily you would fit in with devil kings when you wielded the fires of hell. Take care, you seem to have rough times ahead of you."

As the fairy knight left the scene, Minato felt a nudge at his side.

Looking down, he was greeted by the sight of a worried black panther looking back up at him.

"Sorry to keep you waiting. Let's go home."

* * *

Dennis could only chuckle at the sight of Annie Charlton rushing around the kitchen with various bottles and chemicals in her hands.

Shortly after they returned home, she gave him the most threatening glare she could while telling him not to overexert himself. Following that, she then promptly went off to make elixirs known to boost magical replenishment, much to both Dennis and Minato's amusement as they watched from the doorway.

He would have replenished his magical storage in less than an hour thanks to Invigoration, but who was he to deny being spoilt upon.

The sight of the serious acting Annie rushing around the kitchen in concern wasn't one that he was going to forget anytime soon.

Much to both his surprise and Annie's, Dennis tapped his shoulder and pointed towards the living room while announcing a message.

"Minato, you have your first phone call. Princess Alice wishes to speak with you."

* * *

**Authors Note**

**Firstly, I would like to give thanks to my beta NIX's WARDEN" who offered to be my beta and save me time looking for one. If it were not for him, this would be 4k words less and a lot less polished. **

**Secondly, I'm just going to answer peoples questions in the next chapter rather than just update the last posted one. If you want a faster answer, PM me and i'll answer it that way.**

**Hopefully I managed to involve the characters a bit more, introduce a few new ones and still manage not to make my fight scenes look like trash. It's no GSBW but hey, It's my first real story and i'm trying, so sue me. **

**I'll probably start collecting ideas a side chapter after like, chapter 6 that focuses purely on other characters past-times or discussions rather than the plot, so leave a review if you want to see something.**

**Edit: Went back and added in the link gains for Voban/Liliana. How could I miss that? Uhg. Thanks for pointing that out HellPwnage1337.**

**the DragonBard- That is one interpretation and I accept that. I interpret it differently however. She finds out about Jack's girlfriend at the start of Volume 6, however to me it feels like quite a few of the "side chapters" in Volume 6 are just events that happened in the past. As Feng said, Annie had a severe Oneitus problem with Jack, and at the end of Volume 7 she thinks about romantically about Godou for a split second. I would be inclined to believe that a person would not get over that fascination that quickly.**

**If I didn't give a response to your review its on the previous chapter A/N. **

**I'll just be replying to peoples review in the next chapter, as I said earlier.**

**Again, leave a review, any feedback and all feedback (both criticism and what you liked/want to see) is good and will only help to make my story better for both me and you!**

**Unrelated note, I wrote quite a bit of this listening to "Persona 4 The Animation - Beauty of Destiny Special Mix". Awesome. There's also a spoiler for next chapter on my profile.**

**Next chapter is Minato cookin', Dragons roarin' and childhood friends never winnin'~**


	4. The Rauju, The Witch and the Portal

Beautiful.

That was the first word that came to Minato's mind when first laid eyes on the electronic figure on the screen.

It was almost surreal.

She had an aura that practically radiated elegance to a degree that it dwarfed even Mitsuru's, yet at the same had that feminine charm that Yukari had at her finest. So much so that if was completely ignorant of the nature of Hime-miko and witches, he would not believe it was even possible.

Golden flowing hair that shined almost magically with radiance.

Light cerulean eyes that held kindness with an undertone of deviousness.

A simple yet elegant dress that showed off a wonderfully shaped figure.

All in all, an apt description of a fairy-tale princess.

"Greetings, Minato Arisato. My name is Alice Louise, Princess Alice by title. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Nodding slowly as his thoughts came back to himself, he moved forward to make a polite bow. He was not completely sure of what political power she held as a 'princess', but showing flattery or respect always helps, especially at first meetings.

By past experience, more flattery never hurt anyone.

"It is a pleasure to meet you too, Princess Alice. You are more beautiful that the rumors say."

Naturally, he had only come across her name once or twice in passing and no such rumors had not been heard, but he knew how to flatter without coming off as forward.

All it had taken was many afternoons drinking coffee and watching others.

"And you are more handsome than the rumor's say. Sadly, this is not a social call as I am quite busy. If you do not mind, I offer you to meet with me this Saturday at my villa. I have quite an important issue and offer to present to you. I assure you it will be worth your while."

Quickly glancing put of the corner of his eye to Annie, her stern gaze quickly matched his for a moment before giving a curt nod.

"I would be glad to."

Clapping her hands softly together, she gave him a graceful nod and smile.

"Excellent. There will be a teleportation crystal delivered to your place of residence later this week. Please time your arrival at 10am. It's been a pleasure."

With a short bow to Minato and a short nod to Annie off to the side, she bid them farewell, the television image returned to its blank state soon after.

Looking off to the side to Annie, she now had a slight face of displeasure. "You don't seem too happy about this. I would have thought this was a good thing?"

So this is what Annie meant by people looking into his profile.

To attract the attention of Princess Alice, news must have spread quite quickly.

Thinking back about her, she seemed perfect in her stature. If anything, she was too perfect.

She also had quite the sharp tongue if her playful response was anything to go by. Being able to perfectly appear professional and at the same time create a positive conversational atmosphere, Minato could only regard her as skillful if anything.

Moving around to sit down on the couch, he could make out the words such as "good-looking" and "popular" coming from Annie as she grumpily sat down in the couch opposite him.

"I can't hear you, what was that Annie?"

Coughing to clear her throat, she avoided his gaze irritably.

"Nothing. Anyway, about Princess Alice. Be careful of her. She's both a talented Hime-miko and Witch along with being a politician since she was a child. She is also the spokesperson of the Witengamot, an organization based in Britain. While her intentions may be good, keep in mind she has her own agenda apart from the Witengamot's. The Witengamot itself has some resemblance to that of a magical organization, but they work more in information, mediation and surveillance than anything else. Despite being Campione-less, they still hold strong political power however.

Information and surveillance indeed, considering she knew how to find him and where he lived. It seemed that despite his efforts, he had underestimated the skills of witches.

"They must have quite the sway if they are considered the same level as other associations, even without a Campione."

"Quite. Princess Alice is one of the most powerful witches on the earth, along with Lucretia Zola. However she rarely makes appearances and when she does, it's usually for formal events, which begs the question to what she wants with you. Perhaps the news of your victory spread faster than we expected. Either way, she became the official spokesperson at the age of sixteen. She is talented and witches are known to be deceitful, so be very careful."

Minato could only nod repeatedly as she continued to warm him about Alice with an annoyed expression on her face.

He was starting to get the feeling she didn't like Alice very much.

Perhaps they had a run-in in the past as John Smith. The feeling of animosity didn't seem to be a mutual one however.

Envy perhaps.

Alas, the green eyed monster strikes again.

Becoming such a high rank at just sixteen years old... she was obviously very intelligent and well-versed in political skills.

There was one thing that had jumped out at him the most. It was that she was polite, beautiful and seemingly kind.

Similar to the Arcana having two meanings, one upright and one reversed, he also believed that every human had two sides of them. If her positive side was that cheerful, then what could her negative side hold?

People didn't like to show weakness and went to great lengths to lie and cover them up. And if there was thing he was sure about, it was that she was very skilled at it.

If there was anything he knew inside-out, it were Persona's.

Both the magical and the human faceted kind.

To him, Alice simply looked like someone who was trying too hard, as much as she tried to hide it. Clenching his fist lightly in determination, he decided to help her, even if she didn't want it.

He never could leave a persona who needed help alone.

Especially such as beautiful girl.

* * *

"_Minato, look at those astoundingly beautiful girls over there."_

_Looking to where Ryoji was pointing at, standing further down the street were two girls chatting idly while they window shopped. He had to admit, they were quite stylish, not as beautiful as some of the people he knew, but they had quite the charming outlook nonetheless. _

_Ryoji had quite the eye for women, as he was repeatedly reminded daily. _

"_Remember Minato, women are like flowers. You need to pay attention to them and let them grow so you can see them in all their splendor later."_

_Beckoning him to follow, the yellow scarfed boy pulled out two daisy flowers out of a nearby pot plant and walked forward towards them, greeting them with a smile and a gift. _

_He soon found out that they both had boyfriends, much to Ryuji's obvious disappointment and the girl's amusement._

And so, it was because of Ryoji's skilled teachings that he found himself inside the kitchen at midnight. Good impressions are important, more so for first meetings such as the upcoming one with Alice and if giving simple short gifts worked with picking up girls, then it should work just as well for friendly visits.

And he had yet to find a girl that didn't like getting gifts. Even robots girls.

He had given a lot of thought to what to bring, but he eventually decided on a flowers and something edible. Nothing too flashy but nothing so simple that it downplayed his position. Not to mention he had pride in his cooking skills.

He wasn't an artisan at the art of baking, but he was nothing to scoff at.

Shinjiro had been a good teacher and at times like this he was grateful for taking the time to be friends with him.

Thinking back to what to give Alice, she seemed like someone who would appreciate something different or something heartfelt.

Something honest instead of impressive.

No hidden agendas of feelings, but a gift that gave feeling without any strings attached.

From what he saw on TV shows and general experience, desserts or sweet foods were a safe bet, and even if they didn't like it, there was still the thought that counts, especially so if it was homemade.

Flipping through one of the cookbooks that Dennis had supplied him with earlier while giving him an eerily creepy grin, he didn't find anything that really struck out at him.

Cakes, cookies, puddings and pastries.

Each one he looked at gave him the feeling that it was too flashy, too simple or just didn't fit her image.

From what he could tell from the little he knew, Alice didn't do a lot of travelling, so perhaps something from his home country would do.

Putting the large cookbook down, he took a moment to cycle through all the types of foods he knew how to make in his head.

After a few minutes of thinking, he ended up deciding on the simple Japanese Strawberry Shortcake.

Requiring only four ingredients, it could easily be whipped up and result in a very light and fluffy textured cake that was both delicious and appealing.

Not to mention he would be hard pressed to mess it up. Better safe than sorry, after all.

And it was home-made.

Nothing beat homemade cakes.

After quickly searching the recipe for the cake online and writing down the steps on a notepad, he started the procedure with haste. It would take about one and a half hours to fully complete the cake, and he had two hours before the time zone in England was 10am.

Quickly slicing the strawberries he had found in the kitchen's storerooms and preparing the base, he soon realized that it had a strange texture that was far too liquid-like. Looking back at the notepad briefly, he realized that he had made the common mistake of writing eight instead of six, making the egg to flour ratio completely break down.

Mentally chastising himself for potentially stuffing up due to his own mistake, he added one more egg and evened up the ratio with flour before re-beating the mixture. Not wanting to waste having too much ingredients, he pulled out another smaller pan, and decided to make another smaller cake with the leftovers.

Looking down at the result of his hard work, he could only smile with pride. It wasn't perfect of course, the strawberries were cut slightly unevenly and the attempt at putting cream at the top was slightly botched but nevertheless, it was no doubt a strawberry shortcake.

And he was proud of it.

Quickly washing up the used utensils and pans, he left the smaller cake on the table with a small note addressed to Annie. With that act done, he took the larger cake up to his room where the teleport crystal was in order to change into a more business-like outfit.

He hardly thought meeting a 'Princess' in an apron was acceptable.

Making sure that he looked presentable and was completely prepared, he grabbed the flowers he had bought earlier along with the cake and teleported away, the warm glow of the Justice Arcana spreading through him.

* * *

Watching as the flash of light briefly dissipate from his room, Annie quickly walked back down the hallway leading back to the kitchen.

If there was one thing she loved as a guilty pleasure, it was desserts.

Cakes, sweets, custard. Of course, as any woman should, she valued her figure greatly and held back on desserts when she could and saved them for special occasions such as after a tough mission.

She had an inkling that her Campione status would automatically work to keep her fit and healthy as it did for alcoholic liquids, but she felt it was unfair to both women across the world if she abused it.

Naturally men wouldn't understand such things.

It was also a habit that had accompanied her since her pre-Campione days but as they say, too much of a good thing is bad for you.

Or so she believed, at any rate.

However, while it might not qualify for a world shaking event, in her eyes it was worth it.

She had come down for a snack after working through submitted organisational reports and seen Minato making a cake and naturally not wanting to disturb him, backtracked silently to her room until he was finished.

Much to her excitement and gratification, he had made her a cake with a strawberry on top. It was a bit on the small side, but she guessed he intended for just one person after all. Quickly picking up the note he had left, she felt her heart become warm momentarily.

_To Annie._

_Thank you for taking care of me. Here is a present as my thanks. I do not know if you like these sort of things, but it's a Strawberry Shortcake I made. Please excuse my lack of culinary perfection, but I hope you enjoy it._

_-Minato_

Looking back at the cake, she could only give a light smile. It was far from perfect. The strawberries were cut strangely and the cream topping was unevenly spread, but it had a strange charm to it that only a novice trying his best could.

Slicing a piece of the cake off with a strawberry and biting into it, the softness and sweetness filled her mouth as she chewed. Despite how it looked on the outside, he did do a well job of creating the delicious cake. You couldn't compare it to professionals, but it was the thought that counted. Carrying the cake back up to her room, she left a word on the note as a reply.

_Thanks._

* * *

The light glow of the morning sun's rays shone into his eyes, blinding him momentarily as his body adjusted to the sudden light.

"Welcome to my villa Minato Arisato. May I call you Minato? Please, take a seat and enjoy the sunlight."

Taking a moment to get a bearing of his surroundings, all he could do was blink in surprise.

All around him was a beautiful garden filled to the brim with various flowers, all of them differing colors and shades. Despite the great varying types of flowers, he could only recognize a few such as roses, sunflowers, gardenias or jasmines.

Turning his attention back to the host, he found Princess Alice sitting on the opposite side of the table, her flowing golden hair glittering in the sunlight with only a servant standing by for companionship.

Taking his cue, he quickly moved forward to present his offerings while moving to sit down on the chair opposite the golden witch.

"Good morning Princess Alice. You look wonderful today. Yes, calling me as Minato is fine. I hope you don't mind, but I have brought two gifts with me."

One, was of course the homemade strawberry shortcake.

The other gift that he brought were Hyacinthoides, a bright blue flowered plant that was recommended to him by the flower saleswoman when he had dropped by a flower shop the day before.

Apparently it meant constancy, faithful and enduring.

He didn't know whether Alice herself would know of the meanings behind flowers, but it didn't hurt to try. If the garden was anything to go by however, it seemed like the right choice.

Not to mention that they looked quite nice and he had personally added some healing magic to it for longevity.

He watched as Alice smiled with gratitude as she motioned for the maid to take the flowers back into the mansion. "Thank you very much for the gifts. If you don't mind, I wish to put the flowers up somewhere in my residence if you don't mind?"

"No, not at all. Do as you wish."

Leaning slightly closer to look at the cake in front of her, the hint of a humored smile briefly flashed across her face before returning to a calm one. Not her practiced political smile, but the one that betrayed her true intentions.

"My, did you make this cake yourself?"

Mentally wiping his forehead, Minato nodded. Although he was confident that it tasted good, you could never be too sure of your own creations no matter how good you were.

"I'm sure it will be delicious, but I'm sorry to say that I cannot at this moment taste it. I cannot meet you in person due to my body's condition, but I will taste some of it later, I assure you."

A body condition? What kind of condition could render a witch bedridden, one as proficient at magic as her?

Was it one he could possibly heal?

While he was confident in his healing ability, he didn't fully know what would happen if he called upon his powers to heal otherworldly afflictions.

If she was telling the truth, that is.

Even if he wanted to do something about it, it wouldn't be until he got to know her better.

Minato watched idly as the maid returned and poured two cups of tea before leaving at Alice's dismissal while carrying a slice of the cake.

"Pardon me if it seems rude, but how am I talking to you now if you're not here?"

Though he had read quite a few books in Annie's library concerning witches, gods and magic, finding the type of magic that let someone talk or create an interface capable of interaction at another location was not one he had found.

On a second thought however, he supposed such techniques would be carefully hidden.

"This spell is one of my specialties. I can create ectoplasmic figures along with telekinesis to interact with people from a distance, but it's not a well-known fact, so I would be thankful if you didn't tell people. I hope it doesn't bother you too much."

It didn't bother him per se, but it did seem a bit surreal. Why would she just let out a secret to a persona she barely knew?

"If you don't mind, I noticed you poured two cups of tea. If you can't drink as an ectoplasm, then isn't it a mundane action?"

Averting her glance to look into the distance for a moment, she let loose a small sigh.

"Just a precaution, please don't mind it. Pardon me, but while I enjoy conversations, I didn't call you out here to meet with me for idle chatter."

Ah, it seemed she wanted to get down to business. She didn't seem like the type to rush into serious business, and if her nature of a politician was anything to go by, he would have expected her to revel in pre-business chatter.

Holding out her hand and gesturing him to look closer, the images of seven small differing medal-like icons appeared, each possessing a unique and different shape and design.

As they started to rotate, the images got sharper and upon looking through all the icons, there was only two that he could recognize.

He had seen both of them in the past at two different occasions, but it was the first time he actually got a good look t the two icons.

One was a badge that Jack sometimes wore when he was out on business matters.

The image of a golden eagle emerging from the silver cup containing the waters of life.

The shining symbol for SSI.

The other was one he only knew in passing because of his recent battle, but it was no less important.

A circular blue styled badge decorated with gold and black, adorned with white wings with two golden wheat protruding from the base.

The very same image that he had seen on the fairy-like girl in Europe.

The Bronze-Black Cross, led by the very same Campione he had faced earlier that week.

"Organisations led by Campione...?"

Alice nodded slightly in confirmation, rotating the badges idly with her hand. "Correct. All mage organisations want to work under the patronage of a Campione. It a natural goal, as it gives them both leverage and power. However, can you see the odd thing here?"

Looking back down at the floating badges again for a minute, he realized the oddity.

"There are six Campione, but seven badges?"

"Correct, what I am showing you is not the organisations that work under a Campione, but rather ones that are the major players of the BIOS project, which coincidentally _are_ those with Campione. The only one in the project that has a say, but doesn't have a Campione is the Witengamot, as it was the founder."

Nodding slowly, Minato started to realize just why he was asked to come out here. "..But your organisation is slowly losing power as time goes on and without a Campione to provide weight, your position is starting to become dangerous."

In a swish of her hand, the badges disappeared leaving only the faint feeling of magic in the air.

"Exactly. You might have already figured out why I called you here, but I'll say it plainly. I, Princess Alice, Representative of the Witengamot Council, offer you to join us."

Even though he had seen it coming from a mile away, it still surprised him that she so boldly offered him such political power and responsibility.

"You should be careful of what the witch offers you."

To his surprise and Alice's seemingly displeasure if her facial expression was any indication, the elegant figure of a tall man dressed in a fine black suit now sat in the previously empty third chair.

"Black Prince Alec, how nice of you to... join us." muttered Alice with a slight hint of annoyance.

Black Prince Alec.

Also known as Alexander Gascoigne.

The Campione residing in Britain.

Leader of the Royal Arsenal.

And, despite his that his clothes looked slightly messy and that his hair looked like it had been run-through with static, it was the same person who had called Annie's residence many days ago to deliver the message about the wolf.

The same one person that had given him the most scrutinizing stare he had felt in a long time.

"Just what brings you here, my dear Alec? Surely you must have some sort of... important news as if to interrupt my morning tea with my guest." Pointedly stated Alice, now giving him a slightly suspicious look.

Reaching over to Alice's side of the table and taking the still warm tea that had laid untouched in front of her, he took a long sip before replying.

"Good morning to you too Alice. I simply came for a visit as I heard you had found something interesting."

Placing his cup back on the table, he turned to Minato, his previous look of idle passiveness now replaced with one of curiosity. "Odd. I don't usually remember people unless they important. What is your name?"

Despite Alice's telling him off for being rude in the background, he simply ignored her and looked into Minato's eyes, judging him.

"I am Minato Arisato. Pleased to meet you. I work under John Smith. You called the place of residence that I was staying at last week."

Nodding a few times as the memory came back to him, he now gave Minato a much more intense stare. "Minato Arisato? I have heard you name recently. You fought with that old barbarian Hungarian Campione to a standstill, did you not?"

Taking a moment to look at Alice in order to give her a knowing smirk, Alec looked back at Minato, his eyes chuckling in amusement.

Looking between the two, it seemed rather strange.

They obviously held high positions both in their respective organisations and the world, but here they were bickering like two children. Alice, who had went out of her way to be professional and welcoming now donned a huffed face while she stared at Alec, who had a smug grin plastered on his own.

They must of known each other for a long time, friends or not.

Looking at the two, a ping of sadness rose in his soul.

He never got to make such relationships. He moved schools, he was left parent-less and then he was ripped away from his bonds repeatedly.

It must be nice, to know that there is someone out there that actually knew the real you and knew of your past. Someone that understood you.

Despite the two's insistent bickering, he got the feeling of hidden friendship under the layer of hostility.

"That's rather impressive, and you say you're not a Campione? How… Interesting. I do wonder how you managed to fight with the old man. Divinity? Magic? It's quite a mystery. Very well. Arisato Minato, you should join the Royal Arsenal."

As soon as he finished talking and before Minato could even comment on the invitation, Alice interrupted him.

'Alec... Do you mind not sticking your head into my business? You know perfectly well the position I'm in right now."

To Alice's outburst, Alec simply shrugged and blew her off with a wave of his hand.

"He is interesting and my organisation could always use powerful people like Minato. Besides, have you thought what placing Minato as your pseudo-Campione might do to him? He is not a Campione. The tell-tale feeling of wanting, needing to match blades has not risen and I'm sitting a few feet away. Does he know what it could do to him?"

As Alice started to retort in exasperation, she was cut off by Alec mid-sentence, much to her annoyance.

"Just remember that, now if you'll excuse me, it seems something is approaching my Labyrinth. Make sure you think about my offer, Minato Arisato."

In a brief flash of lightning, the tall figure of the lightning Campione disappeared from his seat, the only trace of his presence being the half empty cup in front of him.

With the sound of static in the air, he felt the bond of the Hermit Arcana glow inside of him.

Grumbling opposite him, Alice called her servant out to gather the used cups, much to the servant's apparent confusion.

"He always does that, just visits out of nowhere then just leaves. His obsession with his work and magic artifacts can't be healthy. For all the time I've known him he hasn't changed his informal ways one bit. He should learn to be more respectful sometime. Though, he is a Campione, so I wouldn't count on him changing his ways. I'm sorry for his interruption and my unprofessional act."

Looking back at her, Alice seemed to have calmed down and returned to being the controlled, calm person he had seen earlier. Even if she was a skilled politician, it seems that just because of the time they had known each other, Alec still managed to easily crumble her facade through personal experience.

If he had gathered anything from Alec's surprise visit, it was that Minato had something she needed, enough for her to personally try to win him over.

She was also cute when pouting too.

"It's fine. He seemed rather spontaneous in his actions. He must cause trouble for quite a few people at times, especially you."

To his comment, Alice sighed in resignation. As much as it seemed one of annoyance, he could tell there was something else in there, but didn't know what.

"No more than any other Campione. It's amazing how troublesome they can be at times, while being surprisingly addle headed. I have heard worse behavior from other Campione in passing."

Giving a short shake of her head, she turned back to him and gave a reassuring smile.

"I must insist though that you join the Witengamot however. Think about the possibilities. Even though you came out of nowhere, you have no concrete allegiance to an organisation outside of the John Smith and you seem to have the power to rival a Campione. That in itself is priceless. With your assistance, the Witengamot can rise above its position as a simple mediator and actually be able to step in. You know how troublesome Campione can be."

Thinking about the possibilities, he nodded his head slowly. "And by doing that, I could save people."

As an afterthought, he could also make bonds. He was no hero of the people like John Smith, but if he had the chance to help save humanity like he did in the past, he would take it without a doubt.

Not to mention, it would give him political power. He already worked directly under John Smith and was tentative allies with Voban. If he added the Witengamot to his side as well as possibly Alec, sooner or later he would have the power and resources to track down Aisha.

"Exactly. Besides, mages should help each other out, don't you think?"

He had spoken to Annie earlier that week about starting to branch out to other organisations and she had endorsed the idea, so he felt it was mostly safe to accept her offer. He could give the invitation from Alec time though. Simply speaking, he didn't know enough about him. That would be solved in time, however.

Looking Alice directly in her cerulean eyes, he gave a confident nod.

"Alice, I will gladly accept your proposal."

"You have my regards then Minato. Welcome to the Witengamot. I'll have papers delivered to you regarding more information later, but firstly, I have something for you."

Conjuring up a map, she placed it in the middle of the table.

"I generally keep an eye out for large magical disturbances, and there was one disturbance I noticed a few weeks ago which happened to belong to a certain troublesome Campione of the highest order. I know the type of situation you're in, Minato."

Seeing the concerned expression on Minato's face, before he could say anything, she continued quickly. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me. However, I have a lead on Madam Aisha for you. Think of it as a welcome gift into the Witengamot."

Minato sat back and observed the golden witch in front of him.

What was she getting at?

While he considered her a friend and associate, she was also a politician and witch. Witches didn't get the reputation for being crafty for nothing, not to mention she was being awfully helpful.

That said, maybe it was because she was crafty that she trying to offer incentives. Even so, he chose to believe that she was simply a nice person at heart.

"There's was recently a disturbance of a divine nature located near one of the islands near Millport. There has been some strange sightings in the area lately, but there was recently a large influx of power a few hours ago. If you go resolve it, I'll give you the lead on Madam Aisha as a gift."

Minato could only chuckle inwardly. There it was. Politician indeed.

"Think of it as your first mission as a representative of the Witengamot. You should be more excited."

Minato simply waved her flimsy excuse away in good nature. "I can do that, but I do want to know, why me? Alec was here less than half an hour ago. Surely he could have fixed your problem?"

As he asked the question, Alice rolled her eyes in an undignified way. "Unless he found it interesting, he would just ignore my request. Besides, there's an underlying reason I chose you, but you're not going to find out until after. Probably."

With her blatant confirmation of her plans, he decided to go along with her request. At least she was honest with him. Besides, how bad could it be?

Notifying the servant that had still been standing stalwartly by, he walked over with a finely decorated box and placed it gently on the table. With Alice's gesture, he opened the box to reveal two gems hanging on a silver necklace, one a vibrant blue and the other a glimmering red.

"The red gem will teleport you to the location of the disturbance, and the blue one back here. Just channel some magic into either gem when you want them to work. They will only work once, and you can keep the necklace for yourself afterwards. I dare say it might look good on you. I bid you good fortune, Minato."

Moving forward to put the necklace on and leave it to hang under his shirt, he waved goodbye to Alice as he let his inner magic flow out of him and into the red gem.

As his world disappeared in a flash of red, the feeling of the Temperance Arcana flared up.

* * *

As Minato disappeared in the flash of scarlet light, she let her ectoplasm disperse into the air causing herself to fall back to her own body back in her room.

It was done.

She had successfully managed to get Minato Arisato to join the Witengamot.

To be frank, she was actually rather surprised it was so easy. She had been acting as a member of the council and handling admin matters since before she was eight. She couldn't even remember when she was not being trained in the arts of deception, and as a result, the Witengamot had survived and flourished as long as it had.

But still.

The amount of convincing she had to do was surprisingly small.

Even one of her servants probably could have convinced him to join the Witengamot.

Was it because he liked helping people? Either way, with Minato away to get rid of one of her personal problems, everything was going according to her plan. A

When he watched him head towards Voban's estate earlier than week, he seemed to have a very serious disposition, at times even emotionless, but today...

Today she saw another face of him.

He was composed, unnaturally so for someone his age and while he seemed to have qualities one might see in a politician, such as the innate ability to listen and communicate at the required intervals, he lacked other skills that would have come with it, such as body language or tone. It was more like he was built to be the trustworthy leader of an organisation.

Despite his near emotionless facade, she still managed to see his chuckle at times and she even found herself unconsciously enjoying his short company. Much to her surprise, she even found that she let down her facade and even went as resorting to arguing with Alec with him around as if his presence was natural or if they had long been friends. Alec knew it too, even if he didn't want to admit it.

For Alec to even remember someone that hadn't interacted him with more than once was a miracle.

Maybe one day, the three of them would find themselves sitting having tea again, bickering as the sun set in the distance.

It was a comforting thought.

Turning her body in her bed carefully to look at the bedside table, she moved the piles of administrative files to reveal a shining see-through vase with blue flowers along with a decorated plate, on top of it a single slice of strawberry shortcake.

In a deft short motion, she cut a slice off and ate it, making sure to take the time savouring it.

As she idly ate the cake, she noted that it tasted sweeter than anything she had previously eaten.

Though he was strangely charming, he was led too easily. Or perhaps it was her innate habit of her past showing up again. Had she gone too far this time?

* * *

The sounds of waves crashing against rocks echoed through the air as Minato got to his feet. As much as the gem teleportation method was fast, it was not something he particularly liked.

He had appeared about two meters off the ground and was sent crashing into a bush, covering himself with numerous sticks and leaves.

If it had been any normal human, they would have taken possibly heavy injuries, but he supposed that any mage worth their salt had spells to deal with these sorts of problems prepared beforehand.

Wiping the rest of the twigs off himself, he carefully looked around to get a feel of his surroundings and to see if there was anything that gave an indication of what he was actually meant to be looking for.

Much to his delight, not soon after walking a few minutes further into the island, the sound of crashing trees and the beating of wings filled the air. Looking at the surrounding greenery, he became a tad concerned.

The trees on this island were not the types of trees you he was used to, such as thin street side trees.

They were thick, nearly forest-like trees in thickness.

And the sounds of them falling over was not one he looked forward to.

As he entered the clearing where the sounds were originating from, he instinctively reached into the depths of his soul calling out the two handed sword Balmung, the sword used by Siegfried to slay Fafnir.

In front of him no more than thirty meters away stood a something that shouldn't have existed in the modern day.

A dragon.

The mythological flying, fire-breathing creature of the skies.

Easily as tall as a two story building, every time it turned around, its fifteen meter long thick black tail sent trees crashing into the distance.

Watching the gigantic serpent from a distance carefully, Minato noted that while it was angry, it seemed to be more confused than actually bent on going on a rampage.

With an impressive sounding roar that demonstrated its right to represent its kind, a pillar of white hot fire flew from the dragon's throat into the air, decreeing its superiority to the world.

Pulling the avatar of Arahabaki from the depths of his soul, he readied his weapon in front of him, gripping it tightly.

Next to a devil-king, a simple dragon won't be much of a problem, even if it was towering above the trees.

As much as he didn't want to fight a dragon, just it being here would cause trouble for others sooner or later, and at worst it could start a forest fire if it started breathing carelessly into the surroundings.

And it was a dragon.

If anything was going to draw heads, the sight of a dragon no doubt qualify easily.

Besides, Minato once dreamt of being a dragon slayer once. A fleeting dream, since dragons didn't exist naturally. But that was beside to point.

Besides, he was fairly certain that he could deal with the serpent and he would bet his best Persona that Alice knew that the dragon was here in the first place. That in turn meant she believed that he could deal with the problem.

Or so he liked to believe.

Letting out a calm breadth to steady his mind and body, he slithered forward with careful quiet movements as he idly pondered if he had started to _like_ fighting.

He had never really liked fighting, either for survival or sports, but he supposed it was just Voban rubbing off on him.

Quietly running across the forest floor trying not to be noticed, he took shelter behind one of the taller trees and carefully climbed up a tree making sure to mask his agile movements, giving him height to jump onto the dragon.

Looking at the beast from a higher vantage point, he briefly took in the dragon's morphology in order to find the most exposed area to strike at.

Its hide was that of a mossy dark green shade, with long thin black sleek wings. The most intriguing thing most of all, much to his surprise, was that the dragons hide was not as armored as he would have expected. Reading about stories and playing games as he grew up, he was taught that dragons were fierce, heavily scaled dragons that wrought destruction in every step they took.

While the dragon in front of him did seem to have tendency for destruction, it was far from heavily armored. He supposed it was only natural after all. Perhaps back then, dragons probably hunted without competition. What creature in the right mind would pick a fight with a dragon? If they ever existed, that was.

Jumping off the tree's branch, he easily landed squarely onto the dragons back, making sure to steady himself.

With the feeling of extra weight suddenly pushing down on its back, the dragon let loose an ear-piercing roar as its head whipped around to stare at him out of the corner of its beady yellow eye. What seemed to be a minor glare of annoyance from the dragon quickly turned into one of furious rage as its eye saw the sword hanging at Minato's side.

With a sudden beat of its wings, it took off in a forceful gust of wind, taking Minato with him into the sky

Clinging onto the dragons back frantically as the cold air rushed around him, Minato gripped his blade strongly and stabbed Balmung as forcefully into the dragon as he could, holding onto the blade as if his life depended on it.

The minute the blade touched the dragons skin, it started to emit a bright light white, letting out a low hum.

No later than the impalement, his world went shooting upside down in a whirlwind of twisting green, blue and white as the dragon started to barrel roll in an attempt to shake him off.

After a rough brief session of gripping onto to his sword with all his might, he took the chance to quickly look around as his world stopped spinning and realized in concern that the dragon was heading straight for the heavens. Realizing that the dragon had decided to fly straight up towards the clouds and forgo its attempts to shake him off, it was only a matter of time before he ran out of air if the dragon intended to do what he thought it was aiming to do.

With that realization, he resolutely decided on an action.

He had to get down, and fast.

Even a fall from the clouds was enough to severely injure him, if not kill him if he got dealt a straight landing into the earth and that was one thing he was not going to take to chance.

Calling Arahabaki into existence, the aboriginal god appeared in a flash of light above him, its slit eyes gleaming maliciously.

_Virus Breath._

Channeling the spell into one of his hands with all his might, he plunged his hand into the sword wound that had slowly started to expand due to the rushing wind forcing the blade downwards. As he pushed his hand deeper into the dragon's body, blood started to spurt from the wound in droves dying his clothes a dark red.

When he couldn't push his hand into the dragon any further, he took a short breath and unleashed the spell. In a flash of dark green light hidden by the surrounding red, the pathogenic nature of the spell was soon rushing through the dragon's body through the bloodstream. Even if the dragon was resistant to magic, the spell had been unleashed internally to wreck havoc.

Pulling his bloodied hand out while making a disgusted sound, he focused his mind as much as he could despite the distracting wind coupled with the dragon's roars filling his ears and called out to his Persona to lay the beat down onto the steadily faltering dragon, just to make sure that he would indeed find himself descending sooner rather than later.

_Heat Wave._

Numerous layers of wounds quickly blossomed onto the dragon's back and wings, and with a loud ear-piercing roar, it started its descent towards the ground, falling awkwardly in a spinning matrix.

After a hectic minute of watching the earth spinning around him as it got closer, trees, air and dirt quickly filled his vision as he hastily cast Tetrakarn just as the ground came up to meet him with open arms, bracing himself for the inevitable landing.

Even though he expected it, nothing could have prepared him for the impact as he was tossed through the air away from the dragon in a magnificent flailing arc as the behemoth crashed into the ground sending a minor earthquake through the island.

Steadily pulling himself up from the rubble while freeing himself free of debris, he looked at the trembling figure of the gigantic dragon lying in the midst of a small number of fallen trees, its legs lacerated with numerous small cuts from the sticks and wood that had embedded themselves all over the dragon's lower body.

The bigger they are, the harder the fall.

As much as he found the rush of falling to the earth on a dragon exhilarating, his sore body made its opinion known that it was not something he should be doing again anytime soon.

Matching his eyes with the glare from the dragon, the feeling of intelligence and anger radiated from the beast.

Raising his sword up in caution, Minato moved slowly towards the struggling dragon. It would only take a few more minutes and he would have slain his first fire-breathing dragon.

Comparing the difficulty of the dragon and the divine wolf to that of a Campione, he found that as action packed as his meetings with the beasts were, the Divine Beasts really posed no more a threat than some of the nastier shadows that acted as fragments of Death.

"Can you understand me?"

His question was answered in a flash of hot, white flames that were shot viciously from the dragon's mouth, fully engulfing his body while lightly burning his clothes and setting fire to the surrounding grass. Silently thanking his Persona for the resistance to fire, he dusted off the small traces of ash that had landed on his shoulders.

Seeing the upright human seemingly untouched from its fire, the dragon's eyes narrowed briefly as it made an effort to stand up, its tail whipping around in an attempt to bat him into the distance.

Making use of his enhanced alertness granted by his Persona, Minato leaped easily backwards into the air avoiding the tail as it swept clean through the clearing narrowly missing him as it smashed the few still standing trees high into the air.

"Okay, so that's how it's going to be? Very well then."

Calling upon the voice of god deep from within his soul, the vibrant heavenly figure of Metatron rose into the air, his shining brilliance causing the dragon to tilt its head briefly in annoyance.

Noticing the brief head tilt to avoid the shaft of light, Minato raised an eyebrow in interest.

Only nocturnal creatures would be affected by this level of light. Even if a normal human witnessed the shining Metatron, it would only cause the user to blink in annoyance at best.

Casting the pointless thought away, Minato dived into action.

_God's Hand._

Wasting no time, the golden large hand flew at the towering dragon, hitting it squarely in the face. Much to his disappointment however, the dragon merely looked back at him and snarled.

Even the previous divine wolf beast would have faltered from such a direct hit. In the back of his mind, Minato was starting to think that this wasn't just your everyday garden variety dragon.

Not that Minato encountered dragons every day.

Or that he had experience with gardening.

Once again, the white hot flames of the dragon's breath engulfed him and, just like the previous attempt to reduce him to cinders, it did absolutely nothing as it harmlessly flowed around him.

As the fire ended, Minato's confident grin soon disappeared as he found the figure of the snarling dragon standing directly in front of him, the smell of the dragon's putrid breath filling the area, the sound of its approach masked by the sound of fire and burning wood around them.

Throwing himself to the side as fast as he could in an attempt to dodge the inevitable bite, despite his best efforts, one of the dragon's many teeth still managed to pierce deeply into his arm as it fragmented, lodging itself firmly as growled in annoyance.

Tumbling away as far as his body would take him, a light searing pain flowing through his body as he felt his arm start to lose all feeling as he forced himself to stand up.

Normal cuts didn't cause limbs to go numb. He was sure of that.

At best, they hurt like hell. Creatures only periodically applied numbness to their attacks when they intend to go unnoticed by the target, or cover a secondary injection.

Like poison.

With an annoyed groan, Minato stood up shakily letting out a short curse.

The dragon was venomous.

Making sure not to overexert himself more than he needed to, he called out Metatron with all his might.

_Megidolaon. _

It was reckless of him, but he could feel the numbness starting to flow around his bloodstream at an alarming rate and if he wanted to make sure he got out of this relatively healthy, he had to end it sooner rather than later.

The sound of the dragon roaring in anger resounded over the island as the magical almighty explosion collided directly into its face at point blank range, crimson dragonfire gushing around them in uncontrolled waves as the dragon reeled backwards.

_Last Judge._

With the images of Metatron and Mithra blooming into existence far above the wounded dragon like two executors waiting for the command, the visage of a large metallic arm burst magnificently into existence between the two, crashing down onto the dragons head like divine retribution.

As the numbness in his body started to spread towards his legs, he willed himself forward to the barely conscious dragon that lay spread out in front of him.

It seemed that under the toll of the earlier virus spell coupled with the external damage, the mighty dragon had finally been reduced to a near motionless state, but not yet entirely dead.

Raising his sword into the air in a final motion, Minato stabbed the dragon with what little strength he could muster in the closest available place where he thought the heart would be, dragging the sword all the way to the other end of its stomach for good measure.

Letting out a final breath, the dragon's roars ceased to exist, as its head dropped weakly onto the ground sending singed dirt into the air, leaving only the sound of burning wood to act as the applause.

Switching to Messiah hurriedly as his legs gave way, he channeled magic into his Persona, willing himself to be healed.

_Salvation._

Complete health regeneration and removal of status alignments.

As the healing spell came over him, searing pain ignited through his body causing him to scream in agony.

In a last resort before letting go of trying to stay conscious, he channeled magic into the necklace.

* * *

Minato woke to the sounds of birds chirping happily in the distance as he forced open his eyes.

"Honestly, are all men this addle headed?"

Looking to the source of the angelic voice, he was granted with the image of a slightly amused Alice in a long flowing white dress sitting on the bed next to him.

Straining his stiff body to look around, he found himself lying on a very aristocratic styled bed in a large decorated room with his arm and parts of his body wrapped in bandages.

A large mirror lay standing against the wall, along with a large expensively decorated wardrobe along with the entrance, to what seemed to be a balcony, if the tell-tale sign of a barely visible door behind the curtains was anything to go by.

The most interesting thing however, was that sprayed around the room in neat organised piles were books, tomes and clothes. Most specifically, women's clothes.

"At least you're alive. You best be grateful. If I hadn't been watching the fight, I wouldn't have seen you collapse. Honestly, you had it fully under control then you underestimated the dragon and look what happened. Overconfidence is a killer, remember that. No matter how skilled you are, or how many Campione you beat, it only takes one fatal wound. Remember that."

Looking down at his bandaged arm, he mentally hit himself for being too confident. It was one lesson he would commit to memory. Every human made mistakes, himself included. He would have to be more careful in the future, even the smallest mosquito can kill a human given the conditions.

"It took majority of my energy to teleport you back here. Not to mention the days it took to heal you."

Guiltily looking back at Alice in an apologetic fashion, his guilt was quickly overridden by embarrassment, causing him to blushing slightly at the image of her what he now realized was her nightwear dress.

It seemed that she had been taking care of him in her room.

"How long?"

"Ten days."

Ten days. Annie was going to be furious with him.

Seeing his distraught face, Alice laughed in amusement. "Don't worry. I contacted your associates. They are just glad that you're going to be all right."

Closing his eyes and thinking back to the battle, he was reminded of the engulfing pain.

"…I tried to cure myself of alignments and was knocked out by the sudden pain. What happened?"

Picking up a cup of tea from the bedside table and taking a sip, she gave him an annoyed look.

"I did a diagnostic scan on you after relocating you into this room and it seemed that your body had minute traces of numbing agent. I can only assume that you somehow rid yourself of that, but didn't stop the damaging poison in your body."

Picking up a nearby book and handing it to him, she flipped to a page and motioned towards it. "What you were fighting was not just any dragon. It was the dragon that was slew by Beowulf. One of the earliest dragons documented. Very old, powerful and intelligent. A nocturnal dragon that boasts both lethal fire and extremely venomous bites, if the stories are to be believed. Quite a nasty combination. You were quite lucky to survive. Beowulf was a Campione himself and still perished soon after to his wounds. The fact your still alive after suffering from wounds that would have killed a Campione is no small feat."

Minato nodded absent mindedly. Remembering back to the end of the fight, he was reminded that one of the dragon's teeth had indeed fragmented into his arm. As much as salvation had cleared his injuries and alignments, the teeth was apparently venomous, not poisonous. It would have kept injecting long after, not to mention it was also of divine origin. If it hadn't been for the fang, he would have called it a perfect kill.

There was no doubt in his mind that while Salvation had slowed the damage considerably, it was not enough.

"I slew the dragon with the weapon it had be slain with the first time. How quaint. No wonder it was furious upon seeing me. How did the dragon get here? Does it have a name?"

Alice shook her head in response. "Not that I know of. And as for it being there, well, did you find anything strange about the place you found him at?"

Thinking back to the fight, even from the vantage points such as when he was on the back of the dragon and from the trees, he had not seen anything out of the ordinary except for the dragon itself.

"If you exclude the dragon, then nothing."

Alice raised her finger to her chin in thought at his negative answer.

"I see. Such a famous creature does not appear out of nowhere. Very well, there had been a sighting of a portal late last week. One that I theorized to have origins from Madam Aisha. That's probably where the dragon had unwittingly originated from. I had hoped that you could get rid of the dragon, as you did, but at the same time find any leads that might help you."

Minato shook his head at Alice's devious nature as he realized her witty plan. He should have expected something like this.

"By the way, it took me days of healing you just to destroy the residual poison and the teeth fragments and now I'm quite far behind in work because of that. You should be thankful. Not to mention you're in a sophisticated women's room. You should be honored. Only Alec or my servants have even stepped one foot in this room.

Turning around to Alice, he bowed as majestically and exaggerated as much he could while sitting upright. "Thank you for the help Alice. It is greatly appreciated."

Looking up, he was met with a bright gleaming smile, one that had dwarfed any previous emotions she had shown. It seemed that his run in with death had did more than just leave him injured.

"Luckily, or unluckily for you, you do not have the external magical resistance that Campione do. Who knows what I might have had to resort to if you did."

As he tried to move his body around, a brief flash of searing pain ran through his body.

Seeing the pain run across his face, Alice moved over slightly and pushed him back down into the pillows. "You fool, don't move too much. You're not completely healed yet. You blacked out from the pain itself. It's not completely gone yet."

Nodding glumly to himself, he resorted to lying back on the pillow and stared up into the pearl white ceiling.

"By the way, Alec dropped in a few days ago and asked me to tell you to contact him when you are well enough. It seems he wants to have a chat."

Nodding his thanks, Minato gazed once again around the strangely empty room, the silence permeating the air.

Glancing to the left, Alice had snuggled back under the sheets next to him and was gazing out the large window into the distance.

"Before I even knew what I was doing, I was guided to be the representative. My magic power increased dramatically and I gained recognition from all others. All I had to do was let myself be shaped into what t_hey_ wanted. I suppose I owe you an apology. Perhaps Alec was right. I guess I'm a witch through and through."

Minato knew that feeling well. The feeling of being handled by those outside of his control to reach a goal without his consent. While he didn't know about Alice's parentage, his childhood was not full of flowers and sunshine either.

"There's not many people to speak to either. The only place I can really relax from formalities is in my own room, or rather, my cage. If I didn't have Alec to speak my mind to, I don't know what have happened to me. He's been a thorn in my side since I was eight, but… it's a welcome thorn."

Looking at the melancholic bedridden women next to him, the difference in her personality was strikingly different. When she talked business, she gave a kind controlled face.

But it was only to her friends, in seclusion that she showed genuine happiness when something good happened, or true sadness when she unintentionally went too far in her ruthlessness. For such a stalwart politician, it seemed she was the most emotional one of all.

And misery loved company.

The sun set in the distance as it watched the two bed-bound figures talk into the afternoon as the Temperance link, once again in record time, lit up.

* * *

A few more days had passed after Minato had made a full recovery and with the help of Alice, had traveled quickly back to Los Angeles, only to find himself taking the time off the scroll around the city.

After he had returned home, Annie had matched his apologetic gaze with a stern concern one and submitted him to a harsh questioning in his rash decisions to follow the orders of a witch on a whim and then nearly get himself killed of all things.

It hadn't taken long for her to calm down after asking how the cake was however.

After Dennis's suggestion that he take a walk and spend the rest of the week relaxing, a notion that was quickly backed up by the women of the house, Minato had then found himself outside, despite his repeatedly assurances that, he was indeed fine.

It was in this situation that he was now left wandering the streets of Los Angeles, the afternoons ray's beaming down on him in an attempt to brighten him up.

After the past few hectic weeks, he hadn't taken the time to actually absorb the city and its unique culture. He did spend most of his life in Japan after all, and while he didn't think about it that often, he was somewhat interested in other cultures. He had looked around on occasion, but he felt that it would be a nice change of pace to take some time off and actually devote some time to the city.

Heading towards the nearby lush green park, he was greeted by a few people taking their daily exercise and the occasional pure-breed dog that ran around the park as it chased after the occasional Frisbee.

The chattering of birds and residents soon fell into the background as he sat down on a park bench that was placed under the sunlight, the cool wind blowing wistfully across his face.

Leaning back as he closed his eyes, he let himself relax as the time passed peacefully.

"Do you mind if we have a chat?"

Opening his eyes to address the person that had spoken to him, he was greeted with the unsuspected and familiar figure of Alexandre Gascoigne standing next to him.

While he had expected the Englishman to contact him, he didn't think it would be so soon, or that he would go out of his way.

"Not at all. Do you want to relocate or is here fine?"

Alec's hand made a noncommittal gesture as he sat down next to the blue haired fool.

"I took the liberty of visiting you while I was here negotiating with that strange John Pluto Smith. Don't worry about secrecy. This place is fine, I already checked that there was nobody suspicious around."

Looking at the suited figure of Black Prince Alec for a moment in silence, he decided to match Alec's own abrupt personality with his own this time.

"I joined the Witengamot."

Looking at Alec from the corner of his eyes, he could see that Alec simply shrugged at his confession..

"I expected as much. Alice is that kind of person after all. Not even I could compare to her devious planning. I would be more surprised if you hadn't really. My offer is still open, however, even if it was made just to annoy that witch. You yourself are now part of two organisations after all. Besides, I just made a peace treaty with John Smith. It wouldn't be strange."

"Maybe. In the future perhaps."

Shrugging off Minato's postponed answer at his invitation, he shrugged uncaringly. It would happen sooner or later.

"I have heard reports that you have quite the interesting array of artifacts, and that you can conjure them out of thin air. Perhaps by some sort of teleportation magic? Actually, the method hardly matters. I would like to see them in person."

To Alec's surprisingly forward request, Minato thought about it for a moment.

Did he have anything to lose by doing so?

After a moment of thinking, he decided he didn't. He could call back his weapons into his soul if Alec tries to take them so having them stolen was out of the question. He obviously already did his research, so there was no point hiding it.

It might also lead to something greater in the end.

Deciding that he would entertain Alec's request, he reached into his soul and pulled out Lucifer's Blade. It was one of the smaller weapons in his arsenal and all though the park was low in population, he didn't want to attract too much attention.

Passing the heavenly blade over to Alec, it was quickly taken and inspected closely as soon as it met the Campione's hands as he poked it and prodded it, occasionally forcing his magic into it unsuccessfully.

"Remarkable. What blade is this? It has an incredibly sharp edge and weights near nothing. Is that the feeling of holy divinity magic leaking off it? Where did you find such a weapon?"

Seeing Alec looking over the artifact with rapture, Minato couldn't help but chuckle. "That's known as Lucifer's Blade."

Upon hearing the name, Alec looked up at Minato with surprised interest. "Lucifer's Blade… Just how did you find such an artifact? You don't seem like the holy type."

Willing the blade back into his soul, much to Alec's displeasure, he gestured to himself.

"Think of it as one of my powers. Annie once likened me to a Divine Ancestor. They may be only avatars but they still retain quite a large portion of their divinity. Unfortunately Alec, they are bound to me. If you want to see them in action, you would have to wait until I'm in a battle."

Staring at him for a moment while thinking, Alec nodded in confidence.

"Very well. I shall accompany you in your next battle. Being able to so easily create such artifacts. You're a very interesting person, Minato. It is a shame I cannot battle you myself, lest I want both Alice's and John Smith's displeasure."

Minato silently thanked the two elegant women in his mind. He was quite happy not to fight Alec if he could help it. If Voban was anything to go by, it would be quite a challenge to fight the English Campione, and Alec didn't seem like the person to mess around. He would probably try to end the battle as soon as possible, going by Alec's straight-to-the-point personality.

"Artifacts aside, I will leave you with a warning, Minato. Think of it as a friendly advice if you will. Alice has put great trust in you, and because of that, I will too. I expect that you continue to keep that trust mutual. The princess is not in prime condition and if anything were to happen and overexert herself…"

Willing himself to match Alec's stern eyes, Minato nodded in what he hoped with confidence. "It won't happen. I assure you that."

After a few moments of their gazes matching, Alec nodded and stood up, seemingly content before passing Minato a business card.

"You may contact me with that. Be sure that you do so the next time you are going into battle, as I wish to see your artifacts in action. Even if you do not, I will see the artifacts in action, either way."

In a brief flash of electricity, the English Campione disappeared from the park, leaving Minato alone once again as the Hermit Arcana shone inside of him.

* * *

Piles of paperwork.

It could even be compared to a short mountain.

"This pile is done."

To Minato's comment, Annie nodded without looking up and gestured to the next pile of spreadsheets, files and documents.

A peace treaty of alliances.

Even what Minato would had expected to be a very positive event, turned out to be quite troublesome much to his annoyance.

Once he had arrived back at the house, Dennis had led him to the office room where Annie had explained to him that because of the peace treaty between John Smith and Black Prince Alec, they were both duty-bound to share information.

Not just information it turned out, but also important details such as who could go where, rights and responsibilities of members as well as terms and conditions.

And as Dennis and he were both working under Annie, she had decided that they would also undertake part of the work.

And so it was on a bright Sunday afternoon that the three residents of the house were piled into the same room busy working as their administrative roles required them to.

Picking up the documents that Minato had pointed out were finished, Annie stood up and picked up the pile along with a few other ones that were scattered around the desk and made her way out of the room. "I'll be delivering these to the University. I'll be back shortly."

With the silent closing of the door, the silence that had permeated the room previously returned once again.

After a few minutes of papers shuffling and documents being stamped, Dennis spoke up from his side of the room quietly. "You know, you're the first person other than me that Annie has let do this type of work."

Minato had never really thought about the administrate side of being a leader. Even as S.E.E.S. leader, all he was expected to do was lead them into battle while Mitsuru handled the paperwork.

Looking at the mountains of workload sitting around the room, he found himself thanking Mitsuru for her work done, even if a little belated.

"Does Annie do all the paperwork manually herself?"

A brief sigh escaped the old man's mount as he nodded sadly. "Correct, that's why she's rarely around. She works under the professor in the daytime, patrols the city at night and in her spare time she's usually in one of the room here working or at the University. Poor girl, her duty stripped her of any social life experience."

Although he felt quite happy that Annie trusted him enough to help her with administrative work, he also felt quite annoyed, both at himself for not helping out sooner and at Annie for taking it upon herself to handle everything.

"I'll make sure I help her out with work more when I can. It's the least I could do." Looking back at himself, he really hadn't been doing much to help his benefactor, with all the recent events. With that thought, he promised himself to help her out more, even if he had to force her to let him help.

"You warm an old man's heart. She just doesn't listen to me anymore. It's the curse of aged familiarity. To her I might just seem like I'm rambling. I do what I can to help her, keep her fed, attend to her wishes, but I wish she would let me help more. All I can do is stand by her side as she struggles."

Looking up at Dennis, he could tell the old man was genuinely grateful. "She needs someone like you by her side to lean on sometimes. For that, Minato, I thank you. It's not much, but should you need anything you can just ask me."

Nodding gratefully, the sound of the downstairs door announcing the return of Annie cut the conversation off, leaving only the sound of the Judgement Arcana shining brightly.

* * *

Looking down at his text message from Annie on his phone, a wave of possibilities and probabilities flashed through his head.

It seemed like he was going back to Japan.

* * *

**Authors Notes Below**

Again, thanks to my beta, NIX'S WARDEN. Credit received where it be due.

Generally, sorry for the late update, but I had quite the trouble writing it and editing it. Truth be told, I want to go back and edit it even more now, but after the third edit, I don't think I could find any new problems with only my eyes. Also, Uni started. Geh.

Kinunatzs asks why Salvation didn't heal him. I pointed out that the tooth was still inside him excreting poison. You don't heal away something that physically large. It's a dragons tooth. Was I not clear enough? Don't usually edit so soon after, but this is kinda important to me.

I know people will complain about the fight. I can feel it in my bones. The dragon doesn't have a name. I looked up multiple sites, and none of them state anything. Besides, Beowulf has quite the history behind him and its plausible he slew a god, and his history explains itself. I more or less wanted to remind Minato of his mortality while painting the picture that while Minato is bad-ass and pretty much thumped the dragon, he shouldn't get overconfident, as Campione tend to do. It's a famous dragon, even with no name and it's god damn huge. I wanted Nidhogg, but that was a tad too strong.

If you didn't realize that, tell me, because I want to make that pretty clear.

How did Alec and Alice go? That's probably the thing i'm most concerned about.

Also, Elizabeth appears once again next chapter, and yes, before you ask, Alice will be healed.

As a heads up, familiar characters are being introduced next chapter along with Alec's demand that the two fight together.

As usual, reviews, even bad ones are appreciated. Updates on progress on profile.

Pcheshire: He'll live as long as a divine ancestor, but that's more of a trivia thing if you just want closure at the end. I'm trying to include a wide variety of his Persona, but it's more of me having to keep track of them all and write them in rather than limiting plot point.

Kinunatzs: That was hard to read. He didn't get hurt by lighting, he got pushed back by the force of it. It's not an issue of concept, it's an issue of force, gravity, wind, and magic that comes with his authority. The Universe Arcana's power is being used up to hold back Nyx. One single person cannot hold that much power, that's why all his bonds and Igor had to help him. The only person Minato works under is Annie, and even then he's slowly working up to working with, rather than under. The orb was fused with some of Minato's soul to keep the seal in tact in the prologue.

HellPwnage1337: Indeed. They are. So he has one persona for each. I went back and fixed the links, by the way.

Alter Avans: Thanks for the ego boost. I try. The universes might come together near the end, but I haven't planned that far ahead. I do plan to do a story comprised of one-shots based in the universe after this one though, to get to the things I can't in the main story.

Guest 7/26/13: Universe Arcana is busy holding back the universal seal against Nyx. I'll touch more upon that in later chapters. He can match gods and most Campione, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

Awsome: Maybe. He is quite the champion tho.

Guest 8/1/13: When I was first asking around for peoples opinions before writing the story, quite a few people said I should stick to the game more. Can't please everybody. Keep in mind, Ragnarok is still a spell, cast by an Avatar from his soul. Not the true beings. That said, Campione slay gods. Gods. Avatar's of gods. Yes, if it wasn't a game, some of them would be broken. That's why Ragnarok didn't do too much against a god-slayer who surrounded himself with authority bound water. Thanks for the suggestion though, and I do intend to do such things, just under another story and fill it with one-shots. You were either mad enough or at least found my writing good enough to leave a comment even if you don't intend to read more, so thanks either way.

Feng Lengshun: Pretty much. Lou Hao is scary. Dennis delivers. Saint Raffaello comes in later.


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